Roommate Wanted
by furyofthetimelords
Summary: Life as a superhero is complicated and not always the best paying job, so Steve decides to put out an ad for a roommate. He didn't count on his attractive new roommate being one too. AU.
1. Chapter 1

**ROOMATE WANTED ($400 p/m), BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.**

Date: 2015-15-02 8:35 PM EST

Reply to: srogers47

I have a bedroom (12 x 14ft) available starting March 1st for a roommate of any gender. I can't afford a place on my own, so I'd need a roommate to help me out with the rent.

About Me:

I work from home, mostly as a freelance graphic designer but I do have other outside commitments, as well as a night job with odd hours. I don't 'go out' much, but I do on occasion. I mostly stay at home and watch a movie or work on projects.

If you're interested, please contact me by email and tell me about yourself.

Note:

Because I work odd hours, I'd prefer a roommate who doesn't mind me doing so and won't complain too much. I don't want to upset anyone.

/

To: srogers47

From: jbbarnes

Subject: Future Roommate?

Date: February 4 2015

Hey,

My name is James (But please, call me Bucky) and your room sounds like the perfect fit. I really don't mind sharing, and I can cook pretty well. I work nights too, mostly, but my hours are pretty flexible. I promise I'm not a serial killer. I just want a place.

I'm free to meet anytime. Just give me a heads up and I'll be there.

Bucky

/

Steve knew the roommate thing was probably a terrible idea. In fact, it may just be the worst idea he's ever had, but it wasn't as if he'd had many other options. His graphic design work was sporadic at best and his luck didn't look to be changing anytime soon. And his other job? Well, that was different.

Superhero work, as it were, was not something you got thanked for often, let alone paid to do it. And even if that was an option, Steve wasn't sure he'd take the money; it wouldn't be fair. On the bright side though, his incredible healing powers meant he didn't have to worry about medical bills as often as the average person.

He knew, of course, that there were plenty of ways he could've used his powers to get him some kind of impossibly fantastic athletic career, or some other kind of big-paying job. But that wouldn't have been fair – unlike most people, he didn't exactly work for the body or skills he had. It was more of a thing that was suddenly thrust upon him, rather than at all earned.

In fact, Steve used to be a pretty skinny guy with more health problems than anyone person should rightly have managed to live as long as he did. Ironically, it was because of his skinny, useless body that he even got these powers.

Three years before, he'd been in critical condition in hospital after a nasty flu had turned into pneumonia. Steve didn't remember much of that time, just a blur of fever-dreams and vague sounds from when they'd been forced to put him in a medically induced coma.

Then at some point, when Steve had one of those rare moment of consciousness, a doctor by the name of Abraham Erskine had come in and offered Steve a choice. There was an experimental trial, one that meant Steve could not only get better, but also stay that way.

Naturally, Steve had been quite sceptical. He'd done more than his fair share of medical trials, so he knew better than most about what the odds were. But after a while, the promise that Dr Erskine had made seemed more and more inviting, especially after another bad episode.

So he'd taken the deal, signed more paperwork than he ever thought possible, and then they'd sent him off to some secret underground hospital where it all began. From there he'd been prodded at by a lot of official-looking people and then injected with a series of injections of some kind of serum that Dr Erskine had created.

The whole process had been kind of painful, but once it was over, Steve was about a foot taller than he had been, and probably closer to double his old weight. Seeing himself like that had been a surreal experience.

After that, he was interviewed by a stern-looking military man named Colonel Phillips who wanted to test what Steve's body could do had briefed him. Apparently super-strength, amongst other things, was a part of his new set of abilities.

But then it had all gone to proverbial shit when Dr Erskine had been killed. The entire Strategic Scientific Reserve had scattered on the wind. Nobody had quite known what to do with Steve after that. Eventually, he'd ended up on a promotional circuit as 'Captain America', trying to convince people to support the military taskforces in various nations like he was some kind of living and breathing propaganda icon.

His identity has been kept under serious wrap, and eventually after the money ran out for the tours, Steve was cut loose and went on his way. Of course, that was when the whole superhero thing had started.

Look, it wasn't like he'd gone out there intending to become some kind of superhero, but when the emergence of a man known only as the Red Skull had appeared in New York, looking to cause trouble, Steve had suited up in the Cap suit (it seemed like a great idea at the time) and fought the man an entire city's worth of cops couldn't bring down. It had been one of the craziest weeks of Steve's life, but he wouldn't take it back. What he'd done there had been important. Better than any glorified military parade with its song and dance.

But that didn't mean it paid the bills, or made it any easier to do so. In fact, superhero life had become a lot more demanding as of late, with every new villain emerging almost as soon as the one before fell.

So, a stable, well-paying job was pretty much off the table. He'd managed to scrape by so far, but he knew that couldn't last. So the whole roommate idea had been born.

Steve was well aware of the problems this could cause – trying to hide his secret identity not only out in the general public, but inside his home too. But the prospect of less rent and an extra pair of hands around the place would be helpful.

After all, there were only so many things that could go wrong, and if they did, well Steve _was_ a superhero.

/

Bucky knocked on the door and checked his watch. He wasn't too early, was he? God, he hoped not. He didn't want to seem too overeager, even if this place seemed like a dream, especially considering the added bonus of a roommate who wouldn't mind odd hours, unlike his last landlord.

Suddenly, the door opened and out came a blond, well, _god_ , could be the only way to describe it. Bucky didn't think he'd ever seen someone so attractive in his life.

"Hey?" the blond god asked, looking adorably confused. Bucky tried not to stare. He needed to make a good impression here.

"Oh, hey, I'm Bucky. Here for the viewing? You're Steve, right?" he said, trying to sound composed and not at all like he'd been momentarily stunned by the sheer hotness of this person.

"Oh, yes, I am! Sorry. It's been a busy day. " Steve replied. Bucky noticed a patch of dirt on Steve's cheek. "Everything is a bit of mess."

"That's fine," Bucky replied lightly and stepped inside.

"So, your room's over there at the end of the hall," Steve said and pointed towards the room. "Bathroom's just across from there and that room is mine, but the rest is shared space."

Bucky was already impressed. He'd seen the photos online, but the place was _nice_ , even if it did currently look a little chaotic.

"It's great."

"So you want to move in?" Steve asked. "Sorry, that was too fast. There's no pressure, but I'd just really like to get this off the market."

"Sure," Bucky replied. "So long as you don't mind me working nights."

"Where do you work?"

"Security" Bucky replied. It wasn't exactly a lie, but it was perhaps the most legitimate way of selling his nightly activities – after all, it wasn't like he could exactly advertise he was running around fighting crime. Formally known as the Winter Soldier, he was one of New York's finest crime-fighters. Sure, he was no superhuman Captain America, or covered with fancy tech Iron Man (nevermind his entire left arm was metal - it wasn't exactly like he could just take that off), but he was still someone who delivered _results_. That was worth something, maybe not enough to completely erase his past, but it was better than nothing.

"I've done some stuff like that," Steve replied. "Though I don't think it's exactly the same kind of work."

 _You have no idea, pal_ , Bucky thought. "So, you work nights?"

"Yeah, though not always. I don't always know when I'll get a shift."

"I can live with that."

"Good," Steve replied, visibly relieved. "It's been off-putting for some other people."

"I can honestly deal with it."

"So, you want to move in?"

"How could I say no?" Bucky said and shrugged, trying to be casual about it. He _really_ needed a place like this. There was a surprising amount of people that'd been put off the moment they heard he worked nights. So much for the city that never sleeps.

"Excellent," Steve replied.

/

The whole roommate thing was working out better than Steve had expected. Bucky was polite, an excellent cook, actually cleaned up after himself, and made decent conversation (not to mention extremely attractive, but Steve was trying to make a point of not noticing that).

However, the same could not be said with other aspects of his life. Superhero work seemed to be more chaotic than ever, with the sudden appearance of giant reptiles (mostly lizards, though Steve had seen more than one giant snake) attacking New York. Nobody knew exactly where they had come from, though Steve could think of a few people who might have had a hand in this. Mad scientists seemed to be he particular villain type, which he always found a little ironic, considering his superhero origin.

The battle with the freakish reptiles had been going on for days, pretty much halting the city. Just when it seemed there were no more, they'd suddenly crop back up again in full force. Carcases were piling up, though thankfully Iron Man (also known as billionaire Tony Stark) had been cleaning them up with his infinite resources. Steve didn't really personally know the man, nor did he care to, but it was useful.

"You alright there, Cap?" Iron Man asked as he helped pull a giant snake off Steve.

"I'm fine," Steve replied and checked for any breaks or damage, though such things hardly mattered to him. It was jut habit to check.

"Advanced healing, huh? Makes a lot of sense."

"Go away Stark," Steve said and picked up his shield. It wasn't exactly the most conventional of weapons, but something about it felt better than any gun or knife (he knew how to use both). It'd been one of those scrapped prototypes the late Howard Stark had left in the hands of the military, and Steve had gotten attached. Made of vibranium, a particularly rare metal, it absorbed all shock completely and was pretty much bullet proof, not to mention it was a useful projectile.

"You know, this would be a whole lot easier if I knew who you were. We could help each other out."

"Some of us like anonymity, Stark" Steve replied and scanned the area for any more replies. Thankfully, there didn't seem be any now, though he knew that could change at any moment.

"I could find out myself," Stark threatened, though Steve knew there was no venom to the threat. Stark, despite his ego and overzealous attitude, could actually be a good man sometimes.

Suddenly, another lizard appeared out of the sewers.

"Incoming," Steve said and got ready for the fight, throwing his shield at the lizard, hoping to knock it out. Iron Man fired another beam at the lizard and it hissed aggressively and spat in the direction of the beam. Some kind of saliva hit Stark's suit and there was a frightening crackle of electricity. Stark went down hard.

Steve was about to go over and see if Stark was okay, but then the lizard turned its attention to Steve and he got a little distracted. He tried to lure it away, closer to the river, but halfway there, something hit the lizard and it got distracted.

Looking around, Steve tried to spot what had hit the lizard, but there was no sight of any people around. People had fled the area, so the culprit must have been another superhero, or some foolhardy civilian who thought they could use this moment to be a hero. Though Steve admired these people's guts, sometimes it was better to leave it to the experienced people.

Suddenly, a man came into view and shot the lizard again. This time, the beast went down, just barely missing crashing into the side of the nearest building.

"I had it on the ropes," Steve said once the dust had settled.

The man snorted. "Sure you did," he replied, his voice clearly distorted by the mask on the lower half of his face. Steve looked the man over. He had longish hair tied back, and was in full black, save for his left arm, which at first Steve thought was some kind of metal armour but on closer inspection, it seemed to the man's actual arm.

"You new around here?" Steve asked.

"Something like that."

"Name?"

"As if I'd tell you that."

"Sorry, not your actual name. I don't care about that, but what should I call you?"

The man rolled his eyes. "People call me the Winter Solider."

Steve frowned. "Should I have heard of you before?"

"No," the man replied. "Now, let's get back to this. There's another lot just around the corner."

Steve swore. The Winter Solider laughed. "What?" Steve asked.

"Just didn't think Captain America of all people swore."

"Most people don't," Steve replied with a roll of his eyes. Most people seemed to have a very set notion of who the person Captain America should be – that because he was a Symbol of America, he couldn't possibly do things like swear, or god forbid, be bisexual.

"Well, let's get going," The Winter Soldier replied, and shoved another clip into his gun.

/

Bucky's day had been pretty fucking terrible, what with all the ginormous reptiles trashing New York City, though meeting Captain America was something of a highlight. He'd heard a lot about the iconic military mascot-turned-hero, and even been a lot envious. Bucky wouldn't admit it to anyone, but Captain America might have been a pretty big inspiration for his thing as a hero. Sure, he'd started small, keeping an extremely low profile, but Bucky suspected after this fight his photo would probably make it somewhere in the news.

 _Might as well start somewhere_ , he thought, pulling off his tactical gear behind a dumpster. The fight was over, they'd won and the freaky reptiles were gone (Bucky wasn't sure who, but someone had managed to find their source and stop it, whatever it was. He hadn't stuck around to find out). Captain America had waved goodbye and walked off, as if he hadn't just nearly been killed several dozen times and crushed by several lizards and a snake. Did that man ever get hurt? _Could_ he even get hurt?

"Fuck," Bucky swore when he noticed a gash on his side. It wasn't too large, but it was certainly not something he could just shrug off. He studied it for a moment, considering if he could get away with just walking home. Steve would definitely notice something like this, though Bucky hoped he could pass it off as some injury sustained from running away from the giant reptiles, as opposed to running into the fight. Steve was just some guy and Bucky was a superhero and didn't deserve to have to deal with this shit (or at least that's what he told himself anytime the thought of banging his roommate popped into his head, which was embarrassingly often).

Bucky decided he might as well just tough it up and walk home. Pulling on his flesh-sleeve to cover the metal arm (which looked real enough that nobody ever bothered to question it, especially with the kind of dexterity the arm had).

When he got home, Steve was on the couch. He looked like he'd been there for some time. Bucky suddenly felt like a terrible person for not even thinking to shoot a text to his roommate to tell him he wasn't dead.

"You're okay," Steve said, relief clear in his voice. "I was worried."

"I'm fine," Bucky replied and tried to recall the excuse he'd used to leave the apartment. "The same can't be said of the milk."

"It's fine, I'm just glad you're okay." Steve said earnestly (and damn, if Bucky didn't melt a little at that – he'd forgotten how nice it was to have people who cared like this).

"You didn't go out?" Bucky asked and collapsed on the other end of the couch.

"Nah. Didn't seem like a good idea," Steve replied dryly. "I saw the news."

"It was pretty rough out there," Bucky said. "Thank god it's all over."

"Did you see any heroes?" Steve asked. Bucky tried to hold back his surprise. Normally, Steve pretty plainly avoided the topic, which was perfectly fine with Bucky.

"I wasn't really paying attention. I might've seen Iron Man, but who hasn't seen that guy?" Bucky lied. "He's shorter than he looks."

Steve laughed. "So I've heard."

"You've seen him before?"

"Once or twice. It's New York," Steve said with a shrug.

"God, I'm so tired. Do you think anything will be open for delivery?" Bucky asked.

"Hopefully something will be. If not, I'll cook."

"You're the best, Steve," Bucky replied and not for the first time, marvelled at how lucky he'd been to get a roommate as literally perfect as Steve, who'd probably give Captain America a run for his money.

* * *

 **A/N: I don't even really have any cool explanations for how this whole thing came about. Only that it did, and I'm really attached? I don't know. It's fun and I'm always a sucker for au fic and after reading literally hundreds of steve/bucky fics I felt it was probably time I started to contribute.**

 **reviews/etc seriously appreciated all round. let me know how I'm doing here.**


	2. Chapter 2

_Steve,_

 _I have another late shift, so I'll probably be home at 4am. Sorry if I wake you._

 _\- B_

/

 _Bucky,_

 _Don't worry about it. If you get a chance, get more milk?_

 _\- Steve_

/

Bucky liked to think he was a pretty well adjusted superhero, especially after years of being, well, not that, to say the least. It was what he was good at, and he was doing _something_ in the world, even if that meant lurking on rooftops and listening to the police scanners for most of the night, which was what he was doing now.

 _"…And there's another 10-51 going on down at Flatbush. I'll pick 'em up. Over."_

Bucky rolled his eyes. That was the fifteenth drunk tonight. There was literally nothing going on, which was probably a good thing for the city, but terrible for him. In the wake of the giant reptile attacks, the city was pretty much a wasteland of criminal activity. Though very little seemed to faze the average New Yorker, giant reptiles had certainly put a damper on things. The clean up was still going on in most areas, though thankfully the worst of it had been cleared out.

Bucky had tried to help out a little, but ultimately it wasn't like he could do much. He wasn't like Captain America, who often could be seen helping construction workers wade through the worst of it, or even someone like Iron Man who threw millions back into reconstruction (though he had thrown down fifty bucks he was going to spend on a new coat to a donation drive). He was just Bucky, and there wasn't much he could offer. He didn't know anything about construction work, or had freaky super strength.

"You really think there's anything to do tonight?" a familiar voice called. Bucky smiled a little.

"Whatever, Nat. Justice never sleeps," he replied.

"You're pathetic," Natasha Romanov, alias Black Widow, said. "There's nothing out here tonight. Go and sleep."

"And how would you know?"

"SHEILD knows," she replied cryptically.

"I'm still not being a spy," he replied.

"It'd be better for you. I get health insurance."

"Still not going to. I work on my own terms."

"So I do," Natasha replied. This was an old conversation, one they'd had at least once a month since Bucky had been deemed human enough to go back out in the world. Natasha had been the one to bring him in (and she'd gotten a few bullets for her trouble, which she never let him forget. But then again, he was) and she'd stuck around ever since. Bucky liked to think it sort of made them friends.

S.H.I.E.L.D, or the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division, had been trying to recruit Bucky for years now. They'd first found him in Russia, about to carry out another assassination on some world leader at the ripe old age of twenty-one. He'd been something else then – nothing more than a hollow machine and treated as such. He was pretty sure none of his 'handlers' ever thought he was human.

Being an assassin wasn't exactly a career he'd picked by choice. Originally, he was just a solider, just another young bright-eyed eighteen-year-old with delusions about military glory. He'd only just completed his training when he'd been sent out to the Middle East for his first tour when he'd been hit with an IED that'd taken his left arm with it. But instead of that being the end of the line it should've been, a group he'd later come to know as Hydra (some terrorist faction with roots in Nazi Germany and World War II) had found him and given him the metal arm and god knows what else to turn him into the most efficient killing machine of the century.

He'd been with them for three years, though they were long, bloody and fucked him up beyond words. Bucky didn't exactly remember much of it, on account of whatever fucked up things they'd done to his brain, but he'd seen enough reports to know it was certainly not sunshine and roses. Nobody knew exactly how many people he'd killed, though there were at least ten high-profile killings he'd been attributed to. This was mostly due to the fact that nobody in the intelligence community believed he existed. To them, he was just a ghost story, until of course the Black Widow herself had caught him in the act and delivered him to S.H.I.E.L.D.

It'd been its own kind of hell to become even anything like human again, but he'd done it with the help of a hospital's worth of doctors (thankfully on S.H.I.E.L.D's dime. Bucky didn't even think all the health insurance in the world could cover the therapy he'd needed). Now, he was pretty much human again, trying to atone for his mistakes.

Sure, S.H.I.E.L.D had done their best to try and sell him the life of a government-sanctioned assassin, but there was no way in hell Bucky was going back to that. However, he'd still felt compelled to do _something_. No matter what his therapists said, he couldn't just sit down and be complacent in a civilian life. Even back before all this shit went down, he'd known that hadn't been for him.

In the end, the decision had been thanks to Captain America. One day back in his Recovery Years, Bucky had seen the hero on the news and after a few days of obsessive research, he'd decided to take the same path. After all, with his metal arm and whatever the fuck else Hydra had done to him, he was more than enough of a superhero already.

Of course, this only served to make S.H.I.E.L.D more attentive, with Natasha showing up every now and then to throw him the pitch. She was a decent enough person, and perhaps the only person in the world that could even relate to Bucky's experiences, being an ex-assassin herself. Though her story was a lot longer than Bucky's.

Unlike him, Natasha Romanov (real name unknown) had been raised to be the perfect killer by some kind of fucked up Russian group. For years, she'd killed people without so much as a thought to what she was doing. But then one day a S.H.I.E.L.D agent had found her and made the choice to bring her in instead of killing her like they should've. Bucky still remembered the first time she told him the story, back when he was still barely human and prone to violent outburst. That was when they'd started to become friends (or at least he liked to think so), bonding over the fact they'd done a lot of fucked up shit to people while under the influence of someone else.

"You ever thought about recruiting Captain America?" Bucky asked.

"He's on a list," Natasha replied. "You in if he is? Because that could be arranged."

"No," Bucky replied. "He seems like the type you'd want. All patriotic and shit."

"He's a good solider, yes, but you're a spy."

"Assassin, and that wasn't me."

"It was, James. Just accept it,"

"Well, it's not anymore," he snapped.

Natasha just shrugged. "Suit yourself. Same time next week?"

Bucky snorted. "Whatever. Like I have a choice."

"I do enjoy our chats, you know," Natasha said in lieu of a goodbye. Without saying another word, she turned around and vanished into the night.

Bucky checked around, making sure he was alone again and sat down to listen to the police scanner and hoped there was something more exciting than yet another drunk roaming around in the city.

/

Steve was still awake when Bucky got home, though not exactly of his own violation. A neighbour's cat had begun yowling at some time after one and he hadn't be able to get back to sleep, so he'd turned on his police scanner for a while (but turned it off after the eighth drunk of the night) and tried to finish off the latest of his graphic design projects. He'd been kind of stuck lately, and with the reptile attacks, he hadn't exactly had much time to sit down and think about it. Not much progress had been made, though he'd at least picked out a few colour schemes and sent them off for the client to decide on.

"You're still awake," Bucky said, surprised. "I thought this was your night off."

"Cats woke me up," Steve replied. "Couldn't get back to sleep."

"Rude," Bucky said and flopped down on the couch. "I'm so fucking tired."

"Then go to bed," Steve replied.

"Can't. Too wired," he said and then suddenly sat up. "Do you want pancakes?"

"What?"

"Pancakes. I want pancakes," he replied. "You in?"

"Sure, if you're making them. Do we have milk?"

"I bought some yesterday after work. I saw your note." Bucky replied and jumped up to investigate. Steve was never short of surprised of Bucky's apparent ability to be able to leap into action even after his night shifts. Steve was really only able to manage because of his super-solider serum, making it easier to go with almost no sleep. Otherwise, he'd probably have been dead several times over.

Soon enough, the apartment was filled with the scent of pancakes. Steve's stomach growled, reminding him of how long it'd been since he'd properly eaten. Though he could go a surprising amount of time without eating, his diet was general pretty large thanks to his metabolism. It pretty much took a mountain of food to keep him fed (though with the state of Steve's finances, it was pretty hard to do so, but he managed).

"God, I can't believe I haven't made these for you before," Bucky said when the pancakes were done. "I used to make them all the time in my last house. Stopped my landlord from being too pissed about by job hours."

"I've never had that problem, or apology pancakes."

"You should try it sometime. They work wonders," Bucky replied.

Unsurprisingly, the pancakes were amazing. It figured that was the moment Steve's superhero phone rang.

"Shit," Steve swore. "I need to take this."

"Go ahead," Bucky said and Steve walked into his room to take the call, annoyed he'd have to give up some of the best pancakes he'd ever eaten for this. Calls like this were never just casual.

"Atlantic Avenue. Crossbones is there," was how Sam greeted him on the phone.

"I thought we put him away?"

"Apparently prisons can't hold this dude," Sam replied. Sam Wilson, though known to the general public as The Falcon, was probably the only person who really knew Steve both as a superhero and a person. They'd been friends for a while now, though Sam hadn't known him before he was Captain America. They'd met while Steve was on one of his Military tours and Sam was one of the Air Force guys that had been shuttled into the show for "morale". From there, Sam had only really gotten involved in the whole superhero thing because of Steve, though that was a sort of accident. Steve had been trying to fight off yet another villain and needed backup, and Sam Wilson had been more than qualified, thanks to his rather unique set of wings that once a part of a top-secret military pararescue team, now hidden somewhere in Sam's apartment (it was a long story, and the government really only tolerated it because as the Falcon, Sam was a real hero).

"Well, then, I'll meet you there."

"I'll—shit, yeah, I'll hold him off until you get here."

"Good luck," Steve said and hung up the phone. He paused for a moment, trying to work out how he was going to be able to sneak out of the apartment while Bucky was right there. The last time this had happened, Bucky hadn't been home so he hadn't had to deal with it.

Now, he was a little stuck. Steve considered his options before suiting up quickly and threw a coat and snow pants over his Captain America suit. It was late march, but it was still cold enough to warrant a few extra layers (though probably not as excessive as this, but it wasn't like he could exactly fit a regular pair of jeans over the suit). Hopefully Bucky wouldn't comment on it.

Taking a deep breath, Steve walked back out. "Sorry, I need to go back into work. Someone hasn't shown up for their shift and I need to fill in."

"Security work sucks," Bucky commented, not looking up from his pancakes, and it took Steve a moment to remember that the security thing was cover for his 'Night' work.

"It really does. I'll be back later," Steve replied. "Not sure when."

Bucky nodded absently. "Sure. Bye, Steve."

"Bye," Steve replied and hurried out the door.

/

Once Steve had left (in snow pants? What the hell was he thinking?), Bucky was bored again. Making the pancakes had been a nice distraction, but now he had literally nothing to do. Not for the first time, he contemplated getting a "real" job, but dismissed the idea pretty quickly. He had enough Army pensions and compensation for now, and it wasn't like regular employers could exactly deal with the whole superhero thing. That was pretty much his entire life, and he wondered how other heroes could do it. He'd met a few that apparently had day jobs (not everyone could be as lucky as him, or as rich as someone like Tony Stark), though they never said where or what.

With nothing else to do, he turned on the TV, flipping channels until he settled on a news station with some kind of breaking news.

"… Heroes Captain America and The Falcon have been sighted fighting against a masked figure. Early reports from the scene claim this Villain to be Crossbones, though he was put away earlier this year. We bring you live to the scene," the reporter said.

Bucky felt his blood run cold. He didn't remember having any direct dealings with Crossbones, though he was sure the man was a Hydra agent. There was something in him that always felt deeply uncomfortably anytime the name was mentioned.

He leaned closer to the TV, scanning the footage on screen. Momentarily, he wondered if he should leap into action and help, but Crossbones was just one man, and Captain America had Falcon to back him up. Besides, there was a certain level of etiquette to these things – you didn't just rush in and fight another superhero's villain, especially if they had things under control. It was rude.

On screen, he saw shaky camera footage of Crossbones shooting at Cap, who used his shield to block the bullets. Falcon was nearby, swooping crossbones on occasion and distracting him. The sound quality in the footage was terrible, marred by the sound of gunfire and civilians screaming.

Bucky was on the edge of his seat as the battle played out. It was hard to see much of it, but the cameraperson, whoever they were, was doing a valiant job of trying to cover the scene. The in-studio reporter tried to narrate what was going on, but the battle was moving too fast for them to keep up with so it was mostly the reporter gasping and crying out in shock when something nearly hit the camera (only missing it because Falcon managed to swoop in at the last second and grab the offending projectile right out of the sky).

It was a tense fight and Bucky didn't now how long he sat there watching it, occasionally flicking through different channels to see if there was better coverage. But eventually Crossbones went down and Bucky felt like a weight had been lifted off his shoulders.

/

Steve went back to Sam's place once the fight was all over. It was strange, not being able to go directly home after a fight, but he'd do anything he could to throw off any hints of suspicion. The less Bucky suspected, the better.

"Man, I can't believe Crossbones was out there," Sam commented once the two of them were changed and relaxing on the couch, watching the news playback of the fight. "You'd think they'd know to lock him up better than that."

"I don't get it either," Steve replied and collapsed on Sam's couch. He might not be that physically exhausted after the fight, but mentally he needed to just relax.

"Do you think we should look into it?" Sam asked.

"I don't know," Steve said. "He'll be locked up again, though hopefully this time it won't be so easy to bust him."

"We could ask Stark."

Steve groaned. "As useful as Stark could be, I'm not letting him know who I am. He'll be insufferable."

"Point, but we don't have to tell him."

"He'll want to know. He always does, every time I see him. As if the rest of us don't need a secret identity," Steve complained. Sure, Stark had his good moments, but his constant, though harmless, pestering had gotten on Steve's nerves, especially in recent times. At first he'd been a little flattered Stark had paid him any attention at all, but then it had gotten boring fast after the first few interactions.

"I feel like there should be someone else we should call about this," Sam commented. "Surely there's some sort of procedure."

"I don't know. The SSR were the only people I knew who dealt with anything like this, but they're all gone now," Steve replied. "Besides, I don't exactly trust the government."

Sam laughed. "Imagine that. Captain America distrusting the US Government."

"Like you trust them either," Steve said pointedly.

"You got me there," Sam replied. "Now, you should get back home soon so your roommate doesn't think you're dead."

"Oh, yeah," Steve said and glanced at the clock. How was it already midday? He shook his head. "Thanks, Sam."

"No worries," Sam replied. "Always happy to help. I'll see you around."

Steve walked out of Sam's place and left for home, wondering if Bucky would say anything about the whole Captain America vs. Crossbones fight. It had managed to block up a fair portion of Brooklyn, and had caused major delays on various roads. But that wasn't a big deal for most New Yorkers. They'd learned how to deal with the chaos of superheroes and villains long ago, so this was really only a minor inconvenience. They even had apps these days that helped tell people which routes to avoid if there was a fight in progress.

Bucky seemed pretty relieved to see Steve back at home. "Did you get caught in the traffic?" he asked when Steve walked in.

"Yeah," Steve lied.

"It's kind of scary how often this stuff happens now, isn't it?" Bucky commented. "I mean, was like, completely out of nowhere."

Steve tried to hide his surprise. "Yeah, it's been happening more lately."

"You worried?" Bucky asked.

"It's New York," Steve replied with a shrug. Besides, there was the fact he was a literal superhero, so he figured he could deal with anything.

"I'd be worried," Bucky said.

"You're not?"

"No, I mean, yeah. A little," Buck replied, sounding a little weird. Steve gave him a look, but said nothing.

"Well, I think it's all going to be fine," Steve said. He believed it (well, mostly. He was all too aware of how easy everything could just suddenly go to shit).

"Hey, wanna watch Master Chef?" Bucky asked suddenly. "It's on now."

"Sure," he replied and Bucky switched on the television.

Steve wanted to comment on his roommate's rapid change in subject, but he figured Bucky probably had his reasons. They were close enough, but it had really only been a few weeks since he'd moved in, so Steve figured they weren't really up to that level of closeness. Steve hoped they'd get closer, even if he knew he probably couldn't tell Bucky everything about his life. There was a lot that was either classified, or better kept secret for safety reasons. Bucky wasn't a superhero and there were things only other heroes could understand. It was part of why he liked Sam so much – that shared life experience was certainly a great bonding tool.

Unwittingly, Steve thought about the Winter Solider again. He'd tried to look the guy up, to see what kind of hero work he'd done before, but there was very little to find. As far as he could tell, the Winter Solider was a ghost. Sure, there were the odd reports of a man with a metal arm fighting off muggers and drug dealers, but it was all very scant and didn't go that far back.

Speculation was rife when it came to the Winter Soldier's origins. People thought he must've been some kind of spy or assassin (or even a flat-out villain at one point), but Steve wasn't sure how much stock he should put into any of that. There'd been more than enough rumours about Captain America's origins, as well as various other superheroes that Steve knew weren't true.

Also, Steve wasn't sure how polite it was to dig too deep into a hero's background. Superheroes valued privacy above all else, and Steve didn't want to be one of _those_ kinds of people (there were more than enough people in the world who foolishly believed all superheroes should unmask and be open about who they "really" were). Besides, the Winter Solider had already proved himself when they'd fought the reptiles and unless anything openly shady came up, Steve was fine with the guy. Not everyone was their past, no matter what some people said. Besides, Steve liked to see the best in people.

Steve wondered if they could be friends, but he wasn't sure how to go about it, or even if the Soldier would want a friend in Steve. After all, how did you talk to a guy you'd really only met once and didn't know much else about other than the fact he had a metal arm and a killer shot? Not to mention the fact that unless there was some serious trust happening, they wouldn't even really see each other outside of actual fights, which left little room for socialisation. He shook off the thought. It was a terrible idea to try and befriend someone like that. There was no way it could end well, superhero or not.

* * *

A/N: A whole new chapter? So soon? I've surprised myself too. I'm just really excited about this whole AU and clearly I've suddenly found my productive streak. Anyway, there's gonna be a whole lot more of the other Avengers in this fic. I've got a plan for this, though I'm not sure how long it'll translate into being. Maybe 15/20 chapters? I'm not entirely sure just yet but I'll get back to you.

find me on tumblr as bluesargently if you're into that kind of thing.


	3. Chapter 3

_Buck,_

 _In case you're hungry, there are leftovers in the fridge. Take whatever you want._

 _\- S_

/

 _Steve,_

 _Thanks. Also, don't forget to eat. You're not some superhero._

 _\- B_

/

Steve had thought the situation had been well under control until the giant robot had arrived. In fact, the whole fight had started plainly enough, with some wannabe villain waving around threats and trying to take advantage of the fact that New York was still rebuilding after the last narrowly prevented disaster.

"I'll crush you, Captain America," the man had yelled. Steve had admittedly already forgotten the man's name almost as soon as he'd announced it. He was entirely forgettable, save for his offensively bright jumpsuit and the fact he was currently attempting to destroy Manhattan. He'd already sent out a few drones that demanded Captain America come and fight. So, Steve had answered the call and gone out to deal with the man.

"I'd like to see you try," Steve had responded, not even attempting to take the man seriously. He'd already seen dozens like this man before and defeated them all in an afternoon. Steve really thought he had nothing to worry about.

"I can do whatever I want," the man replied. Bored with the act, Steve threw his shield at the jumpsuit man, who (thankfully) went down quick, collapsing in the middle of the street. The few people who'd been bored enough to stick around cheered, but the celebration was short lived.

Naturally, this was when the giant robot had appeared, exploding out of the street like some kind of over-large metallic zombie. Rubble flew everywhere and people screamed, trying to get away from the action that had suddenly turned a whole lot more deadly.

"You cannot destroy us. Cut off one head and another two takes its place," the robot said once it had emerged fully. Steve wondered what the hell that was about, but didn't bother to question it as he ran for his shield, which had been flung into a storefront when the robot had emerged. He made a mental note to help the shopkeeper later.

The robot swung at Steve, hitting him so hard he could feel the sickening crack of several ribs as he went down. For the first time in that fight, he wished Sam were here. He could've used someone with the power of flight to back him up. Hell, if Iron Man showed up, Steve would have taken the help.

Instead of pulling back, the robot only pushed down harder, almost impossibly dense. Steve tried to push against it, but got another broken rib for his troubles. That'd be a pain later on.

"You've failed this time, Captain," the robot announced. "There is no escape."

"Just watch me," Steve replied through gritted teeth and used every ounce of strength he had to push back against the giant robot limb that kept him down. However, he wasn't getting much room to move. The robot seemed to have incredible strength and continued to push him down. Another rib cracked.

Steve started to feel a little light-headed. Maybe this was how he was going to go. Death was something he thought about a lot considering the perils of his job. But before he could even think too much about it, the sound of gunfire rang out in the air.

 _What the hell_? Steve thought, struggling to look around. Suddenly, the pressure was lifted off his chest and Steve felt relief flood his body.

"Let me guess, you had him on the ropes?" a familiar voice asked.

Steve tried to wheeze out a reply, but he was pretty sure one of his lungs had been punctured, making talking difficult. It was like his old asthma all over again, only this time an inhaler couldn't help him now.

"You okay?" The Winter Soldier asked.

Steve nodded weakly and tried to stand up. He could feel his body slowly healing, and given a few hours, he'd be fine. All he needed now was a place to crash. Bucky would probably be home, and there was no way he was going to worry his roommate with this kind of problem. Besides, it would be incredibly awkward to explain how we went from practically dying to being perfectly fine within a few hours.

"You sure about that?" the Solider said sceptically.

"Pretty sure," Steve managed to wheeze out. "Healing."

"Oh," the Solider replied. "Do you need any help getting somewhere?"

Steve waved him off. "Fine," he got out. "Thanks for help."

However, before he could say anything else, the robot whirred and Steve watched on in horror as it began to separate, its body tearing apart right down the middle as if it'd been sliced in half.

"What the fuck," Steve swore.

"Should've bought a bigger gun," the Solider muttered.

The robot halves shifted into two new wholes, though both weren't as big as the original, they were still terrifyingly huge. Suddenly, its earlier words made a lot more sense.

"Cut off one head and another two takes its place," Steve said softly.

"What did you say?" the Soldier demanded suddenly, looking at Steve intently.

Steve repeated the robot's words. "It's what that thing said to me."

" _Hydra_ ," the Soldier said, the word sounding like a curse. "Fucking Hydra."

"What?"

"No time to explain," the Soldier said and fired a gun at the robots. Steve wasn't sure where it had come from.

Thinking fast, Steve spotted his shield and sprinted over to it as fast as he could, uncaring of the fact he probably just re-broke a couple of ribs in the process. There were more important things to do, like fight off giant splitting robots.

/

This isn't working!" Captain America yelled at Bucky as he swung his shield into the robot. Honestly, Bucky was incredibly impressed at how the Captain had managed to so easily spring back into action after literally being half-crushed by a giant robot.

"No shit!" Bucky replied. "But we need to keep them engaged, or they're going to start hurting people."

"There's got to be something else we can do. You ever faced these kind of things before?"

"What?"

"You said Hydra. Is that what these things are? Hydras?"

"Hydra are the people who created them," _and me_ Bucky thought but didn't say. That wasn't a story a hero as clean-cut as Captain America needed to hear, especially in the heat of a battle.

"Not that jumpsuit guy?"

"He might've had a hand in it. Could've been one of their agents."

"How have I not heard of these people before?"

"You're a hero, not a spy, but you've probably – ah fuck," Bucky tried to explain, but the robot had shot at him and had clearly hit its mark in his arm.

 _So much for trying to make a good impression_ , he thought to himself. Bucky hadn't really intended to get involved in the fight, but once he'd seen the dude in the yellow jumpsuit (where the fuck as that guy now?), something in his mind had set of an alarm bell and he'd rushed out of the apartment in full gear before he was even sure of what he was doing Then, when Steve had said the thing about the two heads, it had clicked. This was Hydra shit, though from the looks of things this was some kind of old technology some wannabe had tried to make use of.

"You okay?" Captain America asked in between blocking attacks from his robot.

"I'll be fine," Bucky replied as he dodged another hit from the robot that was fighting him. He may not actually have the same kind of healing power the Captain obviously had, but there was something in him that made injuries that would normally be a whole lot of serious something he didn't exactly need to worry about as much as he used to. Bucky didn't like to think about it all that hard.

"If you're sure," the Captain replied and swung at one of the robots. "Any idea on how to stop these things? Bullets aren't working."

Bucky paused a moment to think, hoping to recall some scrap of memory that could potentially give them something useful to fight back with.

"I don't know," Bucky finally replied and threw a hit at the robot, knocking off its left claws. It was the best answer he could give. He couldn't think of anything. Even now, he could barely remember anything of his past as a Hydra assassin. His doctors assumed it was his brain's way of protecting him from the worst of it, but Bucky knew it was simply because Hydra had fucked his memory up too badly. The few things he did remember were bloody and awful, though mostly it was like he'd been in that hellhole in the Middle East one day, and then suddenly the next he was in Russia and staring into the barrel of a gun held by a redhead woman.

From there he'd been little more than a tangle of savage memory and skills he didn't even remember learning. So, Bucky was always extremely reluctant to try and recall things like this, but he never ignored the strange feeling she got when confronted with situations like this. More often than not, it was some sort of useful fragment. Unfortunately, it wasn't like it was something he could control.

"Well, there has to be something," the Captain replied. "Everything has a weakness. You said Hydra, right?"

"Yeah," Bucky said and wondered where in hell he was going with this. With not much time to think, he jumped out of the way of another hit and nearly ran right into the Captain. Righting himself, Bucky moved out of the way and began firing at the robot; Bucky was seriously glad he'd bought multiple guns.

At that moment, one of the robots hit the Captain's shield full force and suddenly _flickered_. Bucky took that moment to shoot the thing and it went down fast, collapsing in a heap of robot parts.

"How did you do that?"

"We," Bucky corrected. "The shied did something to it, and all it needed from there was a good hit. Get the other one to hit you again!"

The Captain nodded and sprung into action. "Hey! Robot!" he yelled. The remaining robot turned at the sound of Captain America's voice. It took a while for the robot to take the bait, but eventually the Captain managed to force the robot into slamming its arm into the shield full-force and it did the same flicker-y thing. Bucky took the shot and the robot fell apart.

Bucky wanted to let out a very unprofessional whoop, but he held back, determine to maintain a cool composure around Captain Fucking America. How he'd managed to do it before was beyond him.

"Well, thanks," the Captain said. "You saved my life out there."

Buck just shrugged. "It's no big deal," he replied.

"So, uh, I think we should probably work together more often. We make a decent team."

"You want me to be your sidekick?"

"No—God, I mean I'd appreciate the back-up. You're a good fighter, and Falcon isn't always around."

"I don't usually work with someone else," Bucky said with a shrug. "But sure."

The Captain gave him a brilliant smile, which in Bucky's opinion, was a thousand times better than anything he'd seen on the propaganda posters.

/

Sam called when Steve was finally home after the fight, after making sure nobody was seriously injured (just another lot of property damage Steve promised in his best Captain America voice to help out with). He'd all but collapsed on the couch, with Bucky sticking his head out of bathroom before disappearing again to shower.

"Hey, man, how are you?"

"Sore as hell," Steve replied. "But I'll be okay."

"Sorry I wasn't there, though you looked like you had some kind of backup this time."

"Yeah, the Solider was there again." Steve replied softly. Though Bucky was still in the shower, he didn't want the conversation to carry. This wasn't something a civilian needed to hear. Not for the first time, he was starting to regret this whole roommate thing, however necessary it was for his finances.

"About that guy," Sam began carefully. Steve braced himself for a lecture. "I found some things."

"What did you get?"

"The whole assassin rumour? Not a lie. He was involved with some serious shit before this. A Hydra or something," Sam said.

"The Soldier did mention them. Apparently whoever was out today was with them, but I didn't confirm that."

"Hydra is seriously bad news. Some kind of crazy neo-Nazis, from the looks of things."

"Shit," Steve replied. He hadn't quite been expecting that. "And you're saying the Soldier was involved with them?"

"He was their assassin. I don't think many people believed he existed, because he was _that_ good Steve. There's a whole report on this."

"From where?"

"Old SSR file. It's not much, but there's a reference to a 'Winter Soldier' here."

"Is it conclusive?"

"It's a footnote, but if it's true, Steve, this guy has been involved in some serious shit."

"I don't think he's with them now. Maybe he defected."

"You can't know that, Steve," Sam said softly.

"I know what happened today, Sam. He saved my life."

"So? That doesn't mean he's not a plant. There's plenty of people out there who start nice, gain your trust and then stab you in the back."

"I think he's solid, Sam. I even asked him to help with backup."

Sam groaned. "Steve," he said.

"Sam, I know what I'm doing, and I think he could be valuable here. I don't care about his past, if that's what this is. If he's trying to go clean, then I'm not going to stop him from doing that," Steve said. He meant it too – whatever the Winter Soldier had done before didn't matter to him now. The Winter Soldier had saved his life, and that wasn't something Steve could easily overlook.

"You better be. I want to meet him when I get back, okay? Just to be sure."

"I don't know how I'll pass that on, but sure," Steve replied. "Not like I just have his phone number lying around."

"Funny. I'll see you on Monday, Steve."

"Bye, Sam," Steve said and hung up the phone. He really did get where Sam was coming from, but from what Steve had read and observed of the Winter Soldier, Steve was sure this hero was a good one.

Bored, Steve decided to go back to his latest commission. It'd been going far too slowly, what with the chaos of the city, but he vowed to at least get a few drafts to send off tomorrow. Hopefully, the city would let him rest for a while and he'd have time to actually earn money.

Rent was coming up, and he wasn't going to let Bucky down and not be able to pay it.

He'd worked hard to get an apartment like this, and he wasn't going to give it up because he couldn't make rent. Thankfully, Bucky's presence made the strain much less than it was, but that didn't mean it was gone completely. He was still struggling to get through the month, and it was probably only because of his super solider abilities that he was even still alive.

It was ironic the way people pictured Captain America as some big untouchable hero when he was right here struggling along with the rest of the world. He wasn't Tony Stark, who could throw cash at whatever he wanted and make it all back the moment someone cashed the check. He was just Steve Rogers from Brooklyn who was doing his best to make ends meet and trying to make sure the city (and by extension, the country) didn't fall apart in his own way.

"Hey, how was work?" Bucky asked, interrupting Steve's thoughts. Steve looked up from his tablet and saw Bucky leaning against the wall. His hair was damp from the shower and his clothes clung to his still-damp body. Steve tried his best not to stare and went back to staring intently at his laptop screen.

"Boring," Steve replied.

"You move around a lot?"

"It's a weird job," Steve replied. "They put me where they need me and I work."

"You ever think about quitting?" Bucky asked and flopped down on the couch beside Steve.

"Nah. I need the money," Steve replied.

"I feel you there," Bucky said. "Security can suck, but it's a job."

"It's worth it when I can do something," Steve said. "But tonight wasn't my best."

"I'm sure you didn't do half as bad as you actually did. The boss probably still loved it. You're too hard on yourself."

Steve rolled his eyes. "When did you get so smart?"

"You've just been too blind to notice it before," Bucky joked. "You want pancakes? I'm just about to eat."

"I thought you finished a shift?"

"Nah. Just about to start," Bucky said. "I want breakfast."

Steve looked at Bucky again and noticed something about the way he was holding his right arm. "Did you hurt your arm?"

"What?" Bucky asked, suddenly tense.

"Your right arm," Steve explained and Bucky gave him a confused look.

"No…?" Bucky replied, a strange edge to his voice.

"Oh," Steve said and shook his head. God, he really needs more time off this superhero thing if he's starting to see imaginary injuries. "Sorry."

"Don't worry about it," Bucky replied. "Pancakes?"

"Oh, yeah, sure," Steve said. There was no way he was going to miss out on pancakes now. He'd been really sore about the fact he had foregone the last batch thanks to that incident with Crossbones.

"Excellent," Bucky said and bounced into the kitchen to make them. Steve went back to work, trying to ignore how easy and perfectly domestic the entire moment felt. They might've been literally living together, but it didn't mean anything more than that. Sure, they were friendly with each other and Steve really did have some kind of horrible crush on Bucky, but there was nothing more to it than that.

Bucky was probably straight, and therefore would never be interested in someone like Steve. The thought ran like a mantra in his mind, over and over again every time he felt anything like this (which was embarrassingly often). Steve really needed to get over this, maybe find someone nice to go on a few dates with and block out all thoughts of his attractive-as-hell roommate. Yeah. That's what he'd do. Maybe Sam would even come with him.

"Pancakes are done!" Bucky announced cheerfully and laid down a plate in front of Steve, flashing him a smile.

"Thanks, Buck," Steve replied and dug in. _God, I'm so screwed_ , he thought.

* * *

A/N: And yet another super fast update. Hopefully this will turn into a pattern. Also, fun fact the "villains" of this chapter are adapted/inspired from a couple of comic book villains (wikis are so useful for when you need a spare villain. Comic Cap has fought a lot of people over the years) - Machinesmith (Jumpsuit guy) and Sleeper (the giant robot, though in the comics they can't actually duplicate).

Super excited for the next chapter which involves cookies, a new neighbour and bad dates.

Find me on tumblr as bluesargently


	4. Chapter 4

_Steve,_

 _Landlord told me new neighbours incoming. They're moving in next week._

 _\- B_

/

 _Buck,_

 _I'll buy things for cookies and we'll take them around?_

 _\- S_

/

Bucky woke to an almighty crash. Panicked, he leapt out of bed and down the hallway into the living room, but there was no discernable source. What the hell was going on? Had some villain found him? Or was this some kind of attack?

"Calm down, Buck, it's just the new neighbours," Steve yelled from the kitchen. Bucky turned around to see one Steve Rogers standing in there in the kitchen, rolling out cookie dough on the bench. Bucky blinked. Was his roommate actually real, or some kind of hallucination?

"Oh, they're here already?" Bucky said, recalling the conversation he'd had with the landlord last week.

"Yeah, I saw a truck pull up earlier and decided it was time to start the cookies."

"Cookies?" Bucky asked, not quite following the logic.

"As a welcome to the complex gift, y'know," Steve replied.

Bucky shook his head. How was Steve even a real person? He'd probably be able to out-polite Captain America. "You're ridiculous," he muttered.

"You say something?"

"Nah," Bucky replied. "Go bake your cookies. I want to go back to bed."

Steve just shrugged like he didn't exactly believe Bucky, and went back to work, using a cookie cutter to cut the dough and placed neat circles on the tray. Bucky then noticed the pile of bowls around the kitchen. Steve had actually _made_ these? It was official. Steve could _not_ be a real person. Who even made cookies like this anymore?

Bucky shook his head. He really didn't know why he was at all surprised anymore. They'd already been living together for a month now, and were close enough that Bucky considered them at least friends (maybe not _that_ close, but they certainly weren't strangers anymore).

He flopped back down on his bed and tried to sleep, but the moment he closed his eyes, the banging started up again. Now that he was aware it _wasn't_ some apocalypse going on, he could clearly make out the sound of people talking and walking around the apartment. Bucky started to relax and listened to the people move around, trying to pick out individual sounds.

There were two people there, one a booming, masculine voice and someone softer, possibly female. Bucky wondered if it was some couple moving in next door. Most of the other tenants in the building were younger people, with and without families. He hadn't met many of them, but Steve had apparently met most of them, which wasn't a surprise to Bucky at all.

Suddenly, he felt his phone buzz. He looked at his to see a text from Natasha. He opened it a little sleepily, wondering if this was some new method of recruitment she was testing out.

 _You didn't tell me your roommate was hot_.

Bucky was suddenly very awake.

 _You're not_ , he texted back, heat pounding in his chest.

 _Come out and see_ , she replied mysteriously.

With dread curling in his stomach, Bucky walked outside to see what exactly Natasha was going on about. Natasha was there all right, but there wasn't just Steve with her. There was another blond man with them; only this one was almost _bigger_ than Steve, all muscular bulk that looked like he could bench press a truck without breaking a sweat. However, the effect was sort-of ruined by the fact he was holding a Tupperware container of cookies.

Steve turned around and smiled when he saw Bucky standing there. "Oh, hey, you're awake. This is my roommate, Bucky."

"Hey," Bucky replied with a short wave.

"We've met," Natasha said. "James is an old friend."

Steve's eyebrows shot up. "Really?"

"Yeah, Nat and I go way back." At leats he didn't have to exactly lie about this. It was true they'd known each other for years, but Steve didn't need to know that was because she was making sure he didn't end up causing mass murder.

"I've known James since he was in diapers," Natasha added with a wicked grin. Once again, not entirely inaccurate, as he was pretty heavily sedated and bed-bound for at least the first few months after she'd bought him in. Bucky preferred not to think of that time, even if Natasha kept trying to bring it up.

"Wow," Steve replied.

"Yeah, it's been a long time. You should've told me you were coming," Bucky said pointedly. Was she moving in here, or what? Natasha wouldn't have just showed up here for laughs (well, she might've, but he doubted that was her reasoning now, especially with the blond giant).

"Well, Thor needed some help and I figured, why not?" she replied. Bucky tried to hide his relief at her statement. Though he did like Natasha, he wasn't sure he could deal with her living here too, as it would probably be some kind of weird, roundabout recruitment process.

"I have not been in this city long, and Natasha has been of great assistance," Thor said.

"Oh, cool, where you from?" Bucky asked.

"Far away," Thor replied. There was something sad about his tone that Bucky couldn't quite work out.

"Oh, well, if you ever need any help with anything, me n' Bucky are usually around," Steve offered. "Though I do apologise if we ever keep you u at night – we work odd ours."

"Not to worry. I sleep as the dead," Thor said with a hearty laugh. "You will not 'keep me up'. Your offer of service is truly appreciated."

"It's no big deal," Steve replied. And to him, it probably wasn't. Bucky was one again struck at how much of a genuinely caring person Steve was. Natasha seemed to be watching Steve with interest, not sexual, but more like she wanted to hand him a S.H.I.E.L.D recruitment card. Bucky wasn't sure where that had come from, but something about him had certainly sparked Natasha's interest. And that clearly wasn't a good thing.

"So, we should leave you to it," Bucky said, eager to get him and Steve out of here. He really didn't like the way Natasha was looking at him, and she'd probably be back sooner rather than later if she was really interested in trying to recruit Steve.

"Yeah, we're fine here," Natasha replied. "I'll see you around, James."

Bucky didn't hesitate to get out of there. He gave a quick, polite wave and went back into the apartment. He was seriously going to talk to Natasha later about this whole thing. There was no way he was going to let this slide without her giving away something. Normally, he didn't give a shit about whatever S.H.I.E.L.D was up to, but this was quietly literally too close to home.

 _You're going to tell me everything_ , Bucky texted Natasha the moment he was back inside.

 _You know I can't do that_ , she replied not a minute later. Bucky rolled his eyes.

 _This is MY apartment complex_ , he reminded her.

 _Then join up, and I'll tell you everything_ , Natasha replied. For a moment, he wondered if this whole thing was just an elaborate ploy to get him to S.H.I.E.L.D, but then dismissed the idea. They wanted him in, but they didn't want him _that_ badly. If they did, Bucky didn't think they'd just have Natasha on him.

 _No deal_ , he texted back. _This is my territory and you're not going to lie to me about this._

 _I'm just helping Thor settle in_ , she replied. Bucky frowned at the message. Was Thor some kind of ex-brainwashed assassin too? He didn't look it. Could just be some foreign agent relocating to New York, but something made Bucky thing there was a whole lot more to it.

 _Why here?_

 _It's safe,_ Natasha answered.

 _Who is he?_

 _You'll find out soon enough_ , Natasha replied cryptically. Bucky wanted to call her and give her a piece of his mind, but he knew she wouldn't really care. She was operating on S.H.I.E.L.D's orders, and Bucky would have to find out everything himself.

 _Fuck,_ he thought, annoyed. Natasha showing up here, right in his 'safe' space had unsettled him. It didn't feel right to have her here, acting like she was just a friend when he knew there were ulterior motives at work. That was one of the things he'd hated about S.H.I.E.L.D – their habit of compartmentalisation and secrecy. Sure, they had their reasons, but it was all too close to his life as a brainwashed assassin for him to ever feel like it was okay.

Bucky just wanted to be able to move on, get a life and live it while trying to make up for all the bad shit he'd done on his own terms. He wasn't going to let some large, secretive organisation decide his life for him ever again.

/

Steve didn't understand why Bucky had been so weird about Natasha being there. If they were such close friends, then why did Bucky look like he was on edge through the entire conversation? He wanted to ask, but Steve wasn't sure it was his place to do so. If something bad had happened Steve didn't want to get in the middle of it. His life was complicated enough without it.

Currently, Bucky was on the couch texting someone, while Steve worked at the table and pretended not to notice. His commissions were finally almost done, and the client was actually pleased with them. It was a nice surprise, considering how slack Steve had been with actually getting them.

Bucky groaned from his place on the couch.

"You okay?" Steve asked.

"Work stuff," Bucky replied. "Boss isn't telling me what I need to know."

"Sucks," Steve said.

"It's fucking terrible," Bucky complained. "I just want to do my job, and people aren't telling me about all the security stuff. I mean, hello, I need to know this stuff."

Steve laughed dryly. "Ah, I understand. I had a client once who refused to tell me exactly what he wanted then got mad when I couldn't deliver."

"Oh, yeah I forget you work design stuff too. How's that working out?"

"Better. I finally got my last one done," Steve replied. "Night work is really eating up my time."

"You ever think about doing the graphic design stuff full-time?"

"I can't quit the other job. I need the money," Steve replied.

"Isn't that the truth," Bucky said with a snort.

"I wish I didn't have to divide my time, but it's worth it," Steve said. "I like security work."

"I know. I was in the army once," Bucky said. "Used to think that was the be all and end all of helping people."

"Really?" Steve said, surprised. Bucky didn't seem like the Army type – he was nothing like the soldiers he'd met on all those military tours to various bases.

"Yeah, joined when I was eighteen and then, well it didn't exactly end too great," Bucky replied. "Took me a long time to get over that shit."

Steve didn't know what to say to that. "I wanted to join when I was younger," he said. "But I was too skinny and sick."

Now it was Bucky's turn to look surprised. Steve was used to that look – people often did when he bought up his youth. His eyes looked Steve up and down. "You were not."

"I really was," Steve replied. "But I grew out a lot of the bad stuff, thankfully."

"You really got lucky then," Bucky said.

"No kidding," Steve said. He knew how lucky he was to even be alive now. In fact, he was pretty sure if it wasn't for Erskine's intervention with his super serum, he'd have been dead already. It was no secret to him before – Steve had pretty much accepted the fact he was probably going to die young. But now here was, older and stronger than he ever thought he'd be.

"I really don't believe it," Bucky said with a shake of his head. "You probably get that all the time."

"Sometimes. Most people are more curious as to how I got so much better," Steve said.

"And what do you tell them?"

"Sometimes I just lie," Steve replied. It was the truth – he'd never really been able to be honest about just how he'd managed to get so much better. In fact, he'd had to vanish from his old life as Steve Rogers while he took up the Captain America mantle – he couldn't just turn up at home looking the way he did. His transformation had happened so suddenly it couldn't be mistaken for anything else. The whole process of vanishing had been pretty easy – it wasn't like he really had many friends back then, or even now. Sam and Bucky were probably the only two people in his life he was even a little close to at all. It was a mildly depressing thought, but Steve was okay with that.

"I can relate," Bucky said. "I fucked up my arm pretty bad while I was in the army. People were pretty curious about it."

"Really? I didn't notice," Steve said and looked at Bucky's arms closer.

"Yeah, left arm," Bucky said. "It's all fine now, but there was some pretty fucked up shit going on with it before. I lied a lot about what happened, just so people wouldn't pity me."

"Isn't that the truth," Steve replied, recalling his hospital visits where he'd get at least several nurses looking at him pityingly as they checked him over. They didn't seem to grasp that Steve had already know he was pretty much doomed – sure, it wasn't like he'd flat-out given up on life, but he'd accepted it wasn't likely to be a long one. The pneumonia probably would've – should've – been the end of him.

It was funny how life had worked out – Steve was now a superhero and doing things most people could only dream of on a daily basis, things that were miles beyond his old capabilities but were now entirely accessible.

They lapsed into silence after that, Steve lost in his thoughts. He wondered about Bucky's arm and what exactly he meant by fucked up. Maybe it wasn't that bad, considering the man moved so well it was like the injury had never happened.

Unsurprisingly, his thoughts went to the Winter Soldier, who had a literally metal arm. Steve wondered what the story was behind it – how had a man like him ended up with such an arm, and how on Earth did he mange to keep it hidden so well? Maybe it was something like Steve's own story – something shitty happened and experimental science saving the day. Though from what he'd read on the Soldier, Steve didn't think it was a very happy story. More likely than not, someone must've done something bad to it. He wondered if the Soldier had anyone to talk about this stuff with? Steve had Sam, who was one of the very few people who knew the entire story, and the only one who was an actual friend. He hoped the Soldier had someone to talk to about it. A good support network was everything.

/

The date was going terribly. It was barely even twenty minutes in and Bucky was sure he never wanted to see this guy ever again. He'd already forgotten the guy's name and the only reason he hadn't bolted yet was because he _really_ wanted this food.

Initially, he'd really only agreed to get Natasha off his case.

"You have a date tomorrow," Natasha had said to him when they'd met the day before, just showing up on the roof where he'd been listen to the police scanner and waiting for action.

"What?' he'd asked.

"What?" he asked.

"A date. He's a nice guy," Natasha had replied.

"How do you even know I'm into dudes at all?' he'd countered.

Natasha had just given him a look, then a one-name answer: "Steve."

"Was I that obvious?"

"I'm a spy. I make a point of knowing these things," Natasha said. "Besides, I know you're not going to make a move, so meet this other guy."

"How do you know I'd like him?"

"That's the whole point of this. Besides, you need to get out of that apartment," Natasha replied. "Socialise."

"And you don't count this?"

"You need to meet more people".

"Does he know who I am?"

"No. That's up to you. He just thinks you're a friend of mine."

Bucky had frowned, but eventually relented. Natasha was someone you didn't just say no to.

He was really starting to hate that fact now.

"You know, I have this fantastic painting at home," his date said. Bucky wasn't really paying attention. "You should come over and see it."

Bucky gave a noncommittal shrug and went back to paying attention to the street outside. At least _that_ held more interested than this guy, who seemed so bland that Bucky was already forgetting him.

"It just reminds me of you," his date continued.

"Oh my god," Bucky said when he saw people screaming.

"What? It's not that surprise—oh," his date said and paled. "What the fuck is that?"

"Who the fuck even knows," Bucky said. "We should get out of here."

"But—"

"Alone too," Bucky said. "I need to get back home to my dogs."

Bucky would've felt bad about the lie, but his date had mentioned disliking them earlier in the conversation and it felt like a decent excuse.

"Oh, well. I'll see you later?"

"Maybe," Bucky said and high-tailed out of there.

He ran back into his apartment, and realised Steve wasn't there. He momentarily wondered where Steve had gone, but didn't give much thought to it. There were more important things he needed to be doing here. He dived into his closet and pulled out his suit and pulled it on in record time, stripping his synthetic skin to reveal his metal arm. After strapping his weaponry on, he was ready to go.

Bucky didn't know exactly what was out there, so he grabbed a few different guns and a knife or two in case that didn't work. He could never be too careful. It was probably not a good idea, just throwing himself out into the fight, but whatever it was had looked serious and there was no way one hero could handle that alone.

He arrived back at the location where he'd seen the fight begin, and nearly stoped in shock when he saw who was there. It was his new neighbour, Thor, dressed up in some kind of ridiculous costume. He looked pretty beat up already, throwing himself at the robot again and again.

Bucky wanted to roll his eyes at the sight of the robot. What the fuck was it with robots these days? Wasn't one lot enough? Though this one did look a lot different to any of the ones he'd seen before – it looked almost like a suit of armour. In fact, if it wasn't so big Bucky might've assumed there was someone inside.

The robot thing continued to advance on Thor, bit before it could get too close, a familiar shield appeared from somewhere and hit the robot in the shoulder, severing an arm. Oddly enough, the cut was entirely clean and on closer inspection, Bucky couldn't see any wires holding it together.

Thor seemed confused by the entire thing too – Bucky saw him looking out for whoever had helped. Captain America appeared a few moments later and picked up his shield after dodging a hit from the robot.

The robot spotted the Captain and moved towards him. Bucky fired off a few shots at the robot, but the bullets bounced of harmlessly. He swore. Figured this one would be immune to bullets (he had to hand it to whoever had made it. Clearly they'd been taking notes).

"This is not your fight," Thor called out when Bucky got closer. The robot was still moving towards the Captain. Captain America ran for his shield.

"It is now. We need to buy him more time," Bucky replied.

"Loki!" Thor yelled at the robot. "Stop this now."

The robot turned.

"You will not hurt these people, or anyone else. Take me, and leave them alone."

The robot watched impassively, but Thor didn't seem deterred. Captain America held his shield ready to throw it again. Bucky felt a little useless, with his guns and knives. It was frankly embarrassing. A world-class assassin, caught off guard by a hunk of metal.

Suddenly, the robot took a swing at Thor, who went down hard. He really didn't look so good and Bucky felt a little green. But before he or Captain America could react, a hammer zoomed past them.

Bucky flinched out of its way, with barely any time to process what exactly had happened. There was an almighty crack of thunder and suddenly Thor was standing up again, hammer clutched in hand. He was literally alight now, looking like a real superhero, all tall and powerful.

Thor threw the hammer at the robot and Bucky watched on as the robot shattered with the force of the blow. There was a spectacular _crack_ as the robot came apart, and Bucky was thrown back with the force of the blow. He landed hard on the street, ears ringing.

Bucky lay there for what felt like forever before Thor and Captain America appeared over him, two giant-sized men looming there. It was a little surreal from his point of view. Thor looked a lot better now, though the Captain looked a little worse for wear.

Thor held out his hand for Bucky and pulled him up quickly.

"Thank you friends, for your help," Thor said with a smile.

"I really didn't do anything," Bucky said, feeling a little awkward. He'd literally been knocked out in that fight.

"It's no worry," Captain America replied, ever polite.

"What was that thing?" Bucky asked, wanting to distract them from the actual fighting.

"Asgardian technology," Thor replied. "My father created it many years ago. It was not meant to be used like this."

"Asgardian? As in Asgard?" Captain America asked.

Thor lit up. "You know of it?"

"It's the home of the Gods in Norse myth—wait. You're _Thor_."

"That is my name," Thor replied.

"So… where is Asgard exactly?" Bucky asked.

"Another realm," Thor replied. "Far away from here."

"Aliens?" Bucky asked. His head was spinning.

"But you're a God," Captain America said, voice a little shaky.

"Those on Midgard thought us to be, but we are merely more advanced," Thor replied.

"You're an alien," Captain America said, a little dazed. Bucky didn't blame him. It was a little shocking. Bucky suddenly recalled his conversation with Natasha. No wonder S.H.I.E.L.D was with Thor. They must've found Thor somewhere and threw him in that apartment while they worked out what to do with him. He made a note to talk about this with Natasha later. No doubt S.H.I.E.L.D would probably be paying a lot closer attention to Thor now that he that the hammer – whatever it was had changed him.

Now a lot more things made sense, though it did beg the question of how much S.H.I.E.L.D knew about Asgard, and aliens in general. Bucky would really have to talk about this with Natasha later.

Thor just smiled. "I must go now," he said. "Whom must I call on when I see you again?"

"Captain America," the Captain said and held out his hand. Thor shook it enthusiastically.

"Ah! A Captain. You fought well today."

"Winter Soldier," Bucky said. He didn't hold out his hand, but Thor shook it anyway.

"Your arm is very different," Thor said, looking down at his arm. Bucky felt a little self-conscious at the unabashed attention. Normally he didn't really stick around long enough for people to gawk at it, and it'd been a while since he'd been the subject of a doctor's curiosity.

"Yeah, well it's one of a kind," Bucky explained. "It's a pretty recent addition."

Thor looked a little worried. "I am sorry for your loss."

Bucky shrugged. "I've had time to get used to it."

"A warriors sacrifice is never forgotten. Thank you, friends, truly, I hope to see you soon, but for now I need to leave to find my brother," Thor said and then literally _flew_ away.

"Well, that was something," Captain America said after a while.

"You're telling me," Bucky replied.

"We met the god of thunder. Who is actually an _alien_ of all things."

"You can say that again, pal," Bucky said. Captain America shook his head apologetically.

"Sorry. It's just surreal," the Captain replied. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine. It's you I should be asking about."

"Super healing," Captain America replied. "Give me a few hours and I'll be alright."

"You're unbelievable. _And_ avoiding the question."

"We literally just met the God of Thunder. And I'm seriously fine. Nothing that won't heal by tonight."

Bucky rolled his eyes. The Captain had only proved his point. It figured he'd be some self-sacrificing asshole who didn't even spare a glance to his own wounds. _Super healers_ , Bucky thought with a snort. They had no idea. Sure, Bucky healed faster than the average person, but probably nowhere near as fast as Captain America did.

"So, I'll see you around?" Captain America said.

"Sure," Bucky replied. He was a little beyond being star-struck at the moment, though normally he would be. There was far too much information he had to process right now. "I'll see you at the next fight."

 _This is my life now_ , he thought, watching Captain America, his heroic inspiration and famous superhero, walk away.

* * *

A/N: This chapter's delay bought to you by my Jessica Jones marathon (it's official now I'm trying to update this every few days), which was absolutely fantastic by the way. So this chapter is the longest yet to make up for it. Also yay more appearances from Marvel characters. I promise those other character tags will become relevant soon.

Anyway, I've decided this is going to be about 15 chapters. I've got a plan, and I kind of see that's where this is going. Also sorry if the romantic element is going so slowly. I mean it when I say slow build, and apparently I can't do that whole pure fluff thing. It has to have an epic plot too. I always want these things to be a lot more romantic but then suddenly action.

reviews/faves/etc are all so appreciated and I'm super pleased with how the response has been going with this fic. I love hearing from you all.


	5. Chapter 5

To:

From: director

Subject: the Captain

Date: April 5 2015

Romanov,

Bring him in.

N. Fury

Director of S.H.I.

/

To: director

From:

Subject: RE: the Captain

Date: April 5 2015

Moving in on him now.

N. Romanov

Special Agent

/

The battle might have been over, but Steve's job wasn't. There were people to check on, and buildings he had to clear out. The robot didn't do a particularly horrible amount of damage, but it was destruction all the same. He knew a lot of other heroes didn't stick around like he did, for reasons of their own, but Steve just wanted to make sure everyone was fine after a battle. He knew it meant reporters flocked to him with demanding questions, but he'd gotten good at passing them by, giving a quick comment if he must.

"Hey, Captain! Is there anything you can tell us about that new hero?" a reporter called, jogging along beside him to keep up.

"No, sorry. If he wants to talk, he will," Steve replied. He didn't want to make Thor's decisions for him ( _Thor_. _God of Thunder, an_ alien. Steve still couldn't quite believe it).

"What about the Winter Soldier, can you tell us anything about him?" the reporter persisted. "How is it having a new sidekick?"

Steve paused at that one. "I don't have any sidekicks," Steve replied. He'd always hated that term – how could one hero be seen as any less than another? They all did the same job, as far as Steve was concerned.

After that, Steve moved faster to get out of the way. If he paused for too long, even more would swoop in. However, as he moved down the street and away from the crowds that'd flooded in once it was safe, he noticed someone following him. Steve wasn't sure of whom it was, but he could feel eyes following him and see a flicker of movement from the corner of his eye.

Eventually, he ducked into an alleyway and waited to see if his pursuer would come in. It took a while, but eventually he heard footsteps behind him and turned to see whom it was. Steve nearly fell over in shock when he saw whom it was.

It was Natasha.

She was dressed in a black bodysuit of some kind, and a gun was at her hip, though Steve didn't doubt she was probably armed to the teeth. She had that look about her.

"You alright there, Cap?" Natasha asked.

"I'm fine," he replied.

"Good, then you'll have a moment to talk."

"About what?"

"A job offer," she replied cryptically.

"And who is that wants to hire me?" he asked. Steve had been approached by people before, usually security companies who wanted to use his expertise as a commodity. He'd never been tempted to take those offers – people like that would've wanted him full-time, and it wouldn't be like he'd be protecting people who needed it, just those who could pay for it.

"S.H.I.E.L.D," Natasha replied.

"And who the hell is that?' If it was a security company again, Steve decided to walk away. He wasn't even going to give her a no this time.

"The Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division," Natasha replied. "Before you ask, it seemed someone really wanted our initials to spell out shield."

"So, it's the government this time?" Steve asked. That was a new one – after the SSR had fallen, he'd dropped off the radar, and because his name was so highly classified, nobody really had clearance to look. So, it'd been easy to just disappear. Sure, he knew being a superhero might have attracted attention, so he wasn't surprised someone had popped out of the woodwork. It was only a surprise that it had taken them so long.

"You've been with us before," Natasha replied. "We want you back."

"There's nothing for me to go back to. Everyone disappeared, or died," Steve said. After the SSR had disbanded, people ran scared and Steve didn't blame them. No doubt most of them were now just living in some remote place getting on with life, or in their graves.

"Not everyone," Natasha replied.

"Then who?" he asked, a little curious.

"Peggy Carter," Natasha said. Steve froze at the mention of her name.

"She's an old woman," he said. When he'd met her, Peggy had already been retired as director of the SSR. He'd only met her a handful of times, but she'd been one hell of a woman.

"Extenuating circumstances made it necessary for her to come out again, but you already know that."

"How do I know if you're telling the truth?"

Natasha reached into her pocket and pulled out a business card. "Call this number," she said and handed it to him. "They'll tell you anything you need to believe me. But I can promise you, this is something I'm not lying about."

"I didn't think anyone would bother with SSR business," Steve said.

"They may have fallen, but we don't stay down," Natasha replied. "Especially with recent activity, we're needed more than ever."

"Recent activity?"

"You haven't noticed the rise in recent threats?" Natasha said with a raised eyebrow. "New York, and the rest of the world, isn't as safe as it once was."

"I don't see you fighting."

"Who do you think makes sure those villains are locked up? Not the police, I assure you. They have other things to deal with."

Steve was surprised. "I didn't think anyone was."

"With what they can do? Someone has to make sure they don't get back out."

"Crossbones got out."

"He's an unusual case," Natasha replied. "But he's not going to be back out anytime soon. He's killed more than enough people to be locked away for several lifetimes already."

"So why hire me?"

"You have a skillset that could be useful to us," Natasha replied.

"I'm not interested in helping people on a government's terms," Steve said.

"Well, I'll give you time to think on that before you refuse," Natasha said. "You could do a lot of good."

"I already am," Steve replied, and walked away.

/

Bucky was surprised Steve wasn't home. Normally, Bucky would wander in and Steve would already be there, either sketching at the table or in his room dealing with design clients.

Bored, he switched on the television to a random channel, finding _Hero Watch_ on. It was one of those new gimmicky shows that'd popped up as New York, and the rest of the world, had gained their heroes. Sure, people had built up quite a community around superhero watching on the Internet, but this made the whole thing a hell of a lot more mainstream.

Curious, Bucky stayed on the channel. He knew it was mostly trash, but sometimes it was useful for being able to keep straight the records of recent disasters.

"And we're here today to talk about a particular newcomer to the hero scene," the host said. "Sources say he's been around a while now, but its only recently has he popped up on our radars thanks to a new alliance with our Captain America."

On-screen, an image of Bucky popped up, in full gear and metal arm exposed. He frowned at it, trying to work out where it was from.

"Cap's already had his famous alliance with Falcon, but just who is this new guy? Well, he's the Winter Soldier, a fitting name for a Captain's sidekick."

"Sidekick?" Bucky exclaimed out loud, annoyed. Who the hell were these people?

"The Captain and the Soldier have been a formidable team lately, taking down giant robots and lizards alike," the host said and more images flashed on screen, of Bucky with Captain America from the couple of the battles they'd fought together in.

"Sources say the Soldier has been around for a few years now, though nobody is sure about how he got that arm – it's a killer of a piece," the reporter said and some shaky news footage of Bucky appeared on-screen.

"He's certainly a hero to watch, but just today we reached out to Captain America, who had this to say."

"I don't have any sidekicks," Captain America said on screen.

"It certainly seems to me that Cap is a little defensive here – or maybe just a little shy. This is a pretty new relation—"

Bucky turned the television off before he could get any madder. Sidekick! Seriously? He let out a frustrated groan. It'd been everything he'd been trying to avoid when he agreed to work with Captain America. Bucky briefly contemplated trying to get some actual media attention and making a statement but dismissed the idea. The moment he talked, it would be all over. He'd worked hard to avoid reporters in the last few years, and now especially he had to be careful. Sure, he was hard to recognise in his full gear, but he didn't want to feed the vultures here.

Steve got home several hours later, looking a little distressed.

"Rough day?" Bucky asked.

"Something like that," Steve replied. "How was your, uh, date?"

"He was boring and I left early," Bucky said without thinking. "Been here ever since."

"He?" Steve asked.

"You got a problem?"

"No – god, no. I'm, uh, bisexual myself," Steve replied, sounding a little awkward.

Internally, Bucky felt like screaming. Steve Rogers, hottest person he'd seen in ages, was attracted to men (and women, but who even cares). Mathematically, his chances had increased. Though that didn't mean he was suddenly going to start hitting on Steve outright. Steve was his roommate, _and_ a civilian. Bucky shouldn't get involved.

"Same here," Bucky said in a tone that was a lot calmer than he felt.

Steve gave him a small smile. It wasn't exactly how he'd pictured coming out to his roommate, but Bucky didn't care. Steve was bi!

"Well, now that that's out of the way, you hungry?" Steve asked.

"Starving," Bucky replied. "I may have left before dinner."

"That bad, huh?" Steve asked.

"Pretty much. He hated dogs. _Dogs_ ," Bucky complained.

"Seriously?" Steve replied, like he couldn't believe it. Bucky liked him better already.

"Yeah, and he wouldn't take a hint – seriously, just because I'm bisexual doesn't mean I'm easy," Bucky replied.

"Oh, god, I know," Steve said with a roll of his eyes. "It's fucking terrible."

"I had to feed him a line about needing to go back to my dogs just so he'd leave me alone," Bucky said. "It was fucking terrible."

"Blind dates are worse," Steve replied. "My friends went through a stage of setting me up with literally anyone. And it was awful. I just wanted to meet people naturally, y'know?"

"You're a romantic huh?" Bucky asked with raised eyebrows. Steve blushed.

"I guess," he replied.

But before Bucky could probe further into Steve's dating life, there was a knock on the door. Steve looked confused for a moment before brightening considerably.

"Sam's here," Steve explained.

"Sam?" Bucky asked with a frown.

"My best friend," Steve said. "I forgot he was coming."

"Do you want me to leave?" Bucky asked.

"No, you don't have to," Steve replied with a shake of his head. "This is your place too."

Bucky shrugged, and tried not to look too curious about whoever the hell Sam was. Who was the sort of person Steve considered a best friend?

"Hey man," Steve said when he opened the door.

"Hey yourself. How are you doing?" Sam asked. Bucky looked over to the door to see a man he assumed was 'Sam' standing there. He was a tall dark-skinned man, though Steve towered over him. There was something strangely familiar about him, but Bucky couldn't quite put his finger on it.

"I'm okay," Steve replied. "Oh, and Bucky's here too. Sam, Bucky. Bucky, Sam."

"Nice to meet you man," Sam said with a small wave.

"Hey," Bucky replied. He gave Sam another look-over, trying to work out why he was so familiar, but Bucky couldn't work it out.

"You hear about the fight in Harlem today?" Sam asked casually.

"Oh yeah," Steve replied. "It made me late home. Traffic and all."

Sam laughed. "New York gets crazier every day," he said.

"Sam here is from DC," Steve explained. "Thinks he's better than us."

"I don't think, I _know_ ," Sam replied. "This city is crazy."

Bucky snorted. "I've been in warzones, pal, and New York has nothing on that."

Sam seemed to perk up at that. "You're military?"

"Ex," Bucky replied. "You?"

"Ex-Air Force."

"Steve," Bucky said with an exaggerated sigh. "I'm disappointed in your choice of friends."

Steve shrugged. "I know, but Sam's alright."

"I'm the one that's keeping your ass around," Sam replied with an exaggerated sigh. "Always having to drag your ass out of trouble."

Bucky scoffed. "Steve? Trouble?" The idea seemed a little impossible.

Sam just laughed. Steve looked a little embarrassed. "This one doesn't _stop_ getting into fights."

"Hey, I don't go looking for fights," Steve replied. "Not my fault people are awful."

"Man, you have a complex," Sam said. "Always gotta be the hero."

Bucky laughed. "You gonna dress up in tights and a cape?"

Steve turned red. "I'm not a hero," he said. "I just do what anyone should."

"A regular Captain America," Bucky joked.

Steve turned brighter red. "Uh," he said.

Sam just laughed. "Man, that's the funniest thing."

"Why? Bucky asked.

"Steve used to be—"

"Sam, no, he doesn't need to hear this."

"—A Captain America impersonator. Got kicked out of the job when he tried to start a fight," Sam finished, looking smug.

"Seriously?" Bucky asked.

"You bet," Sam replied. He looked like he was about to laugh again.

"I can't believe it," Bucky replied. "You."

"It was a job," Steve said with an awkward shrug.

"Did you get to keep the suit?" Bucky asked.

"Nope," Steve replied, at the same time Sam said, "Yes."

"I got rid of it."

"You did not," Sam replied giving Steve a _look_.

"I did!" Steve insisted in a tone that made it seem like he was lying.

"Sure," San said with a roll of his eyes.

"I like you already," Bucky told Sam. "Even if you are ex-Air Force."

"I'll take it," Sam said, but he was smiling.

"I should get started on dinner," Steve said and moved off to the kitchen.

Sam and Bucky were alone. Bucky decided now was as good a time as any. "So," Bucky began. "Have we met before?"

"Why'd you ask?"

"Memory problems," Bucky replied. "You tell me."

"Your time in the army?" Sam guessed and gave Bucky a thoughtful once over. "Where were you stationed?"

"Afghanistan," Bucky replied.

"Who were you with?"

"Classified shit, mostly," Bucky said. "Or so they tell me. Sargent James Barnes, by the way."

Sam's eyes widened when Bucky said his full name. "They found you?"

"A few years back," Bucky replied. "I've adjusted since."

Sam shook his head. "Where did they find you?"

"Classified," Bucky replied.

"Well, I'm glad you're back," Sam said. "You became a bit of a ghost story."

 _You don't even know half of it_ , Bucky thought wryly.

"Does Steve know?" Sam asked.

"Not the full story," Bucky replied. "Never felt like there was time to bring it up."

"You good now?" Sam asked, sounding a little wary. Bucky didn't blame the guy. He knew how fucked up he'd been in the weeks after Natasha pulled him out. It was a bloody, messy time and he'd been sedated for most of that time, or strapped to a bed so he wouldn't attack the nurses.

"I've been better," Bucky replied. "But I'm not a threat anymore. They wouldn't have let me go if they weren't sure."

"Well, I'm over at the VA, so if there's anything you need…" Sam said.

Bucky shrugged. " I haven't needed to go there in a long tome" he lied. He'd actually been far too violent for something like the VA, and once he was a lot more stable, hadn't seen the point of going. He'd already got the therapy he needed.

"Fair enough," Sam said. "Man, I really can't believe you're here."

"You and me both, pal," Bucky said, and then absently wondered if he was giving too much away, bur decided he didn't really care. Sam wasn't going to be able to put two and two together, and it wasn't like Bucky would outright admit to being a brainwashed assassin. That was a conversation he didn't really want to have with anyone, especially civilians. Besides, it wasn't the sort of thing anyone just bought up over dinner, or any other casual situation.

"I was a part of the rescue team," Sam said suddenly.

"They had one of those?" Bucky said, surprised.

"Yeah, couldn't find shit," Sam replied. "Except dead bodies. We all thought you went the same way."

"People didn't want me to be found," Bucky said with a shrug. "I've moved past it."

Sam looked like he was about to say something else, but then Steve interrupted the conversation.

"Food's ready," he said and Bucky reluctantly moved to the table, moving aside some of Steve's design papers to the one corner of the table that wasn't going to be occupied. They didn't get to eat at the table often, usually because their schedules were too unpredictable, but Bucky liked to make the effort sometimes. He knew the value of normal routines almost too well.

However, as Steve served the pasta, Bucky was feeling a little restless. He waned to be able to continue that conversation with Sam, but the moment was over. Something about it made Bucky think Sam might actually know more, especially since he was involved in a rescue effort.

"So, Sam how was DC?" Steve asked. "I forgot to ask."

"Great," Sam replied. "Family is fine. Caught up on a lot of things."

Bucky wondered what the double meaning was there. The look that passed between the two was something serious. Absently, Bucky wondered if there might be more than just a "best friends" between the two, but dismissed it. Steve had definitely said 'best friend' and Bucky didn't think Steve would hide something like that, especially now that Bucky had admitted his own sexuality.

"That's good," Steve said.

"So, Bucky, where're you working?"

"Security," Bucky replied. "Like Steve."

"Ah, so you're used to his awful hours."

"Pal, mine are _worse_ ," Bucky said.

Steve laughed. "You're not that bad, Buck."

"I don't believe it," Sam said. "Steve, I love you, man, but your work hours _suck_."

"They really are," Bucky said. "I should quit, but I keep getting dragged back in."

"Isn't that the truth," Steve replied. Sam laughed.

From there, conversation flowed and Bucky started to like Sam more and more with every passing minute. He was a solid guy, and it made him appreciate Steve more, especially since Sam was full of stories about Steve and his apparent habit of fighting people. Bucky wondered how he'd never noticed it before – Steve never came back home bruised or beaten up. The closest he'd ever seen was a day Steve came back home with a mysteriously faded bruise on his arm that Bucky had sworn hadn't been there earlier in the day.

"Alright," Sam said after a few good hours of conversation. The plates had been cleared and now they were just sitting at the table talking. "I should leave you two to it. Some of us have day jobs."

"Bye, Sam," Steve said.

"I'll let you out," Bucky said, and hopped up from the table. "It was good to meet you. Nice to see Steve has some taste."

Steve seemed a little surprised at that, but made no protest as Bucky opened the door for Sam.

"Hey, I'd appreciate it if you could tell me more about that rescue op," Bucky said softly once he was opening the door. "I think we have a lot to talk about."

"Sure," Sam said and pulled a card from his pocket. "Don't know how much I can tell you, but maybe it'll be good for us both."

With one last wave, Bucky closes the door.

"So," Steve said once they were back inside. "You like Sam?"

"He's a good guy," Bucky replied.

"Yeah," Steve said. "He is. Pulled me out of a bad situation a few years back. No—not like that, but he's the sort of good person like that. I wish I'd known him as long as you've known Natasha."

"Oh yeah," Bucky replied, recalling the lie Natasha had spun about them being childhood best friends. "We should introduce them sometime."

"Of course," Steve said. "You heading off to work?"

Bucky glanced at the clock. It was already past his usual time of "work" starting. "I don't have anything on tonight," Bucky replied. He was tired as hell – the bad date, and the thing with Thor had exhausted him and though he usually made the effort, Bucky couldn't be bothered tonight. New York would be okay without him tonight, and if there were a real emergency, his phone would wake him up.

"You're lucky. I have a shift later. Goodnight, then,"

With a soft goodnight, Bucky walked back to his room and surprised himself by falling asleep almost as soon as he got into bed.

* * *

A/N: I really did mean to get this out sooner, but then I got distracted after the Civil War trailer dropped so suddenly (I made a very unholy sound when I saw it), and then I was like "what if I edited this to a Halsey song" and that happened. (if ur curious, search "hold me down x captain america" on youtube and it'll appear).

Also, if anyone's interested, you should know I also have a three-page (handwritten, because that's how I tend to make notes) timeline sorted out for the pre-fic events because apparently I'm obsessive like that. Idk how much of that info will be able to be put into this fic bc some of it is pretty irrelevant to anyone but me.

and bc this site is terrible, imagine a shieldnet dot gov attached to those emails at the start of the chapter.


	6. Chapter 6

To: director

From: nromanov

Subject: Re: The Captain

Date: April 20 2015

We've got a situation.

N. Romanov

Special Agent

/

To: nromanov

From: director

Subject: RE: The Captain

Date: 20 April 2015

You have your orders, Agent. Proceed as planned.

N. Fury

Director of S.H.I.E.L.D

/

Of all the things Steve had expected to be at the end of that quiet week in April, an alien invasion was not one of them. He should've figured something was going to happen, especially after the revelation with Thor. Maybe it was some kind of proximity thing – one alien showed up, then a whole lot more. But the truth of it was that nothing would ever stay quiet enough for long – there was always going to be another disaster.

It began with a hole in the sky, a wide gaping thing above Stark Tower that started pouring out alien warriors like rain from a cloud. Information about he attack was scarce, though a few early reports had seen a man in green and gold coat holding a sceptre (spotted in Europe facing off Thor a week or so ago) standing atop the tower. Other than that, nobody had any idea of what exactly was going on. It was chaos in the streets, and as Steve made his way into the fight, he kept pausing to make sure people were okay.

He worried about Bucky, as his roommate hadn't been home when Steve had left, but there wasn't much time to go running around the city for one person. He was needed in this fight. Already, Iron Man was out there, along with the Hulk who'd made his first appearance since he'd destroyed Harlem a few years before. Thor was supposed to be around somewhere, but Steve hadn't seen him yet.

"You need a hand there?" Steve asked, throwing his shield to distract an alien that was about to attack Stark.

"A few extras wouldn't go amiss," Stark replied. "But I do have a Hulk."

"You know…?" Steve asked.

Stark just waved him off. "A friend," he replied dismissively. "He's here to help."

"I didn't doubt that," Steve said. "Who else is around?"

"Pretty sure I saw Quicksilver somewhere," Stark said as he hit another alien with his repulsors. "And his twin sister? I think they're twins, the way they stick together. Oh, and Thor, big blond guy. He's on my tower."

"Well that's someone," Steve said. "Where do you want me?"

"Huh? Oh, somewhere nearby. You got anyone else coming?"

"Winter Soldier and Falcon," Steve replied. "They'll be here."

"Your new sidekicks, huh?"

"I don't have sidekicks," Steve said, annoyed.

"Technicalities," Stark said with a wave of his hand. "Now, I think our best bet here is to try to take out tall dark and glowing. He's at the centre of this."

"If we take him out, will the portal close?" Steve wondered, but didn't have much time to think about it before another alien pounced. He fought back, throwing it down and snapping its neck.

"I don't know if the portal will close, by the way," Stark said. "But it's worth a shot."

"Good enough for me," Steve said. "How do we get up there?"

"Fly, obviously," Stark said. "You in?"

"Somebody say flying?" Falcon said, swooping in. Steve breathed a sigh of relief.

"We're going up," Steve replied, pointing to the portal above Stark Tower.

"In there?" Sam said sceptically.

"Not quite," Stark cut in. "We go up. Take the bad guy out, close the portal, and then celebrate."

"Alright then," Sam replied. "Let's do this."

/

Bucky was having a fucking terrible day, so much so that he was almost relieved when the aliens attacked. It was better than lurking on top of buildings, listening to police scanners for any sort of activity. He'd been feeling sort of useless, and was seriously contemplating getting a real job in security just so he could do something with all the hours he usually had in a day. But, as luck would have it, the aliens came and all thoughts of boring, real life jobs were lost.

He'd gotten into the action as fast as he could, but despite his haste, there was already a fair amount of destruction and dead people lying around. Bucky tried not to focus too much on the bodies (which were thankfully very few. Perhaps only the unlucky ones that didn't make it out on time) and pushed himself into the fight.

He saw the Hulk nearby, ferociously attacking any of the aliens that got at all close to hi, undeterred by their attacks. Bucky decided the giant green guy had the situation well at hand, and he didn't feel the need to get in the way of that. Instead, Bucky looked around for Captain America, or even Falcon. Maybe one of the two would be nearby and he could figure out what the hell was going on now. News reports hadn't been very useful, and online was a mess of livestreams that kept crashing or repeating the same few facts over and over again – aliens were here, they came from a portal above Stark tower, a man with some kind of glowing sceptre was at the centre of it.

Bucky scanned the area again, and spotted Captain America being pulled up by Falcon to presumably the top of the building with Iron Man fighting off any of the aliens that got too close. Bucky decided it was time to play sniper again, picking off any aliens that got too close. It took a while, and Bucky anxiously waited and fired off shots until the group made it to the top of the tower.

"You want to be up there," a soft accented voice said. Bucky nearly jumped out of his skin when he heard the person speak. He looked towards the source of the voice and saw the Scarlet Witch herself standing there, looking at him curiously. Bucky tensed. He knew enough about her freaky powers to be worried about what she could do.

"I'm not going to attack you," she said plainly. "I want to help."

"And how are you going to do that?" Bucky asked.

"My brother can run you up there. I can fly," she replied. "Stark wants to take out the aliens, but he can't do it if we stay here."

"Alright then," Bucky said, knowing better than to question her. He'd heard enough about her to know she could see _things_. Nobody was exactly sure of the extent of her powers, and he suspected she kept it that way for a reason. There were a lot of unknowns about her, but Bucky didn't begrudge her that. He knew enough about secret keeping to be able to appreciate that what she did was probably for the best.

"My brother is here. Get ready," Scarlet Witch said suddenly and then a strange blur arrived and then Quicksilver was standing there. He gave Bucky a quick grin and then suddenly disappeared in a blur again and before Bucky would blink, he was on top of the tower, with Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver standing beside him.

Buck tensed, and assessed the scene. Thor, Captain America, Iron Man and Falcon were there, facing the suspect from the news. Behind the suspect, there was some kind of giant device, spewing some kind of glowing light into the portal, widening it. Bucky didn't like the look of it.

"Ah, the rest of you are here," the suspect said with a menacing grin. He held the glowing sceptre in his hand tighter

"Brother, do not do this," Thor said.

 _Brother?_ Bucky thought, frowning. The news reports from Europe hadn't mentioned this fact they'd talked about Thor's confrontation with this, well, alien. Bucky didn't think we could get over that.

"I can do what I want, Thor," Thor's brother replied and raised the sceptre. "You try to protect this planet, but you've _failed_."

"Loki," Thor said softly. Bucky suddenly recalled the last fight he'd been in with Thor. Thor had mentioned a Loki before. _This_ was the guy who'd controlled that robot.

"Too late for that, _brother_ ," Loki replied, and the pointed the sceptre at him, but before he could fire it or whatever the hell it was supposed to do, Scarlet Witch let out a burst of red energy that knocked Loki over.

"You don't want to do that," she said, standing over him threateningly, a glowing ball of red in her hand. Bucky was instantly thankful she was one of the good guys.

Loki laughed. "Oh, you. I like you," he said.

"You don't know me," she replied dangerously, the ball of energy growing larger in her palm.

"Give it up, Loki," Captain America said. "We've got you cornered."

Loki laughed again. "Cornered? This, Captain, isn't _cornered_ ," he said and suddenly he vanished. Captain America let out a string of very strong swear words and Bucky nearly cried. It was fucking _beautiful_ to hear him swear.

"Language, Captain," Iron Man said, as his suit helmet slid open. Bucky felt weirdly anxious at the sight. How could Tony Stark be so open about his identity? Did he think his wealth could protect him absolutely? The only exception he could really see to the rule was Scarlet Witch, who probably charmed anyone who recognised her in the streets. No wonder she saw no need for a mask. Quicksilver too, though he probably just moved too fast to be seen most of the time. Otherwise, Bucky couldn't see how someone could be so open. Superhero work was too dangerous and a secret identity was a sacred thing, and perhaps the only thing that stopped him from having to constantly sleep with a weapon under his pillow.

"Fuck off, Stark," Captain America replied.

Iron Man raised his palms in defeat.

"Cap, you got a plan?" Falcon cut in. Bucky froze at the sound of his voice.

"Well, Thor, you know your brother," Captain America said, but Bucky was a little distracted.

Sam. Sam was _the Falcon_. Bucky couldn't quite believe it, but now that he'd heard Falcon – Sam – speak, he could see it. Sure, the Falcon's uniform had goggles that partially obscured his face, but Bucky could see the similarity now he had a point of comparison.

"—Solider…. um, hey?" someone said and Bucky snapped to attention again.

"I'm still here," Bucky muttered, then a little louder, "Where do you want me?"

"Scarlet Witch thinks she can find where Loki actually is, so we'll need to make a tag team to go in there," Captain America explained.

Bucky nodded. "I'll be backup, then," he replied.

"You think you can handle that?" Iron Man asked.

"There's a reason there were only two aliens that attacked you when you were flying up," Bucky replied. "Sniper."

Iron Man looked excited. "Military trained?"

"Wouldn't you like to know," Bucky replied. He'd honestly rather shoot himself in the foot than give anything personal away. He didn't really trust Tony Stark, despite his abilities as a hero. Sure, he could feel some sort of empathy for his past, but that didn't mean he was going to play nice.

"Stark," Captain America said firmly.

"Alright," Iron Man said with a roll of his eyes. "Glinda here got directions yet?"

"I'm searching," Scarlet Witch replied. "He's not stupid."

"My brother is well-versed in sorcery," Thor added. "He fooled us all here. He could do it again."

"Not this time," she replied firmly. "I know what to look for now. I wasn't sure before."

"My sister will find him," Quicksilver added.

"So she _is_ your sister!" Stark called out, sounding pleased. "I was wonder—what, we were all thinking it!"

Captain America just rolled his eyes.

"Shut up, man," The Falcon – _Sam_ – replied, but before Stark could retaliate, there was a giant roar in the sky where a giant _thing_ came out of the portal above them. It was some kind of centipede-like thing, moving through the sky like it was water.

Bucky dove out of the way, and began firing at it, but bullets didn't seem to be much use, and he was already running low. He tossed a grenade at it, but there wasn't much of a dent. Iron Man shot his repulsors at it, but even that didn't seem to do much. The thing – perhaps some kind of ship, moved passed them and into the streets, crashing into buildings and knocking out whole sections. The Hulk jumped on it at one point, but was thrown back into the streets, but not without ripping a sizeable panel off the thing.

All in all, the situation wasn't looking good. In fact, it looked pretty damn hopeless, but Bucky tried to resolutely not think about that. Nothing was unbeatable, and he had an entire _team_ of heroes here, and god knows how many on the ground, fighting these aliens in any way they could.

"Right, Winter Soldier, Scarlet Witch, Falcon, and Quicksilver, you're looking for Loki," Captain America ordered. "Iron Man, Thor, you're with me on Damage control. Try to stay out of the Hulk's way."

Thor looked a little reluctant to follow Captain America, but he didn't complain.

"You're better off here," Captain America said. "We need a little indestructible here."

"He's my brother," Thor said. "I can't abandon him."

"You're not," Bucky cut in. "If you go out there, it might be too hard to make the right call. Clearly this isn't the first time this has happened, so we're going to make sure the job is done."

Thunder rumbled loudly in the sky, and Thor's eyes flashed dangerously.

"We're not going to kill him," Bucky said, though it felt a little like a lie. He didn't exactly _want_ to kill someone, but Loki was a serious danger, and he wasn't going to let Thor's own feelings about his brother compromise the mission here. Loki had already done enough damage.

"We need to get back out there," Captain America urged. "Move out."

Iron Man grabbed Captain America and dived off the tower, out of sight. Thor paused for a second, and looked over at Bucky.

"I can't let him die," Thor said.

"We're doing what we need to, and I'm not a fan of murder," Bucky replied. He figured that was an answer enough. These days he tried to avoid killing people as much as possible, and with Thor's connection to Loki, he figured that'd be a bad move unless entirely unavoidable.

Thor seemed to accept that, and then flew off, hammer in hand.

Bucky turned to the rest of the team. "Scarlet Witch? You got anything yet?"

"Fragments," she replied. "But it's enough. I can find him."

"Any idea where?"

"He's in the chaos," she said, and pointed to the city below. "We'll find him in there."

"Fine by me," Sam said, readying his wings, but before he could fly off, Quicksilver disappeared, but only for about a second, before reappearing on the roof.

"I saw him," Quicksilver cut in.

"You move too fast, kid," Bucky said. "Next time, wait a moment."

"You stop, you die," he said simply, and then darted off again, presumably back into the fight.

Falcon looked over at him. "You're the leader now?"

Bucky held up his palms. "Getting shit done. You want to take over?"

"I figure stealth is your thing," Sam said, an edge to his voice.

Bucky clenched his jaw, well aware Sam couldn't see the gesture. "I'm not that person anymore," he said flatly. "Things change."

"Cap seems to think you're alright, but he's not perfect. I don't know what your deal is, here. But I don't think it's a good one."

Bucky took a deep breath. He really didn't want to have to argue about this now. "You'll need to trust me now."

"You're dangerous."

Bucky took a deep breath and closed his eyes for a moment, before turning back to face Scarlet Witch, who was watching him curiously. "Scarlet Witch, you should find your brother."

Taking the hint, she gave him a small smile and suddenly vanished off the roof in a quick flash of red.

Bucky turned back to Sam. "You want a reason to trust me? Fine," he said, checking once over his shoulder to make sure none of the cameras could see his face. He took his mask off, looking at Sam flatly and giving the winged superhero a moment to look at his face.

Sam swore. "You're—"

"I know who you are, Sam," Bucky said. "I'm not stupid."

"You live in his _apartment_ ," Sam said. He looked ready to attack.

"I'm not going to snap and kill him," Bucky replied. "Besides, it wasn't like I had a choice in that whole assassin gig."

"They did this to you?" Sam asked, a little less harsh.

Bucky nodded. "Then I got better," he said. "Took a while, but I'm here now. So, you see whatever shit you've found, forget it. That's not me."

Sam shook his head. "Does Steve know anything about this?"

"No, and I want to keep it that way. He shouldn't be involved."

Sam laughed dryly. "Steve isn't good at keeping out of trouble. You should talk to him about this."

"I'm not dragging him into this," Bucky replied firmly, and put his mask back on. "Anyway, you with me?"

"Sure, but we're talking about this later," Sam replied, stretching his wings.

Bucky nodded in agreement and grabbed Sam's hand with his flesh and blood arm, "Let's do this," he said. And Sam launched them off the building and down into the fight.

The aliens swarmed on them the moment they got close, and Bucky fired off a few shots, knocking them down. Sam flew off, throwing himself into the aerial action. A few got too close, and he pushed his way through, clearing a path towards where he saw the flashes of red that indicated Scarlet Witch was close by. He figured that must have been where Loki was.

Once he'd pushed his way through. Bucky saw that Loki was there but there were _three_ of him. Scarlet Witch, however, didn't seem too fussed by this fact, and kept throwing balls of glowing red energy at one in particular. Bucky wondered how she'd worked that out, as he couldn't see anything different about any of the figures. But when she hit that one, the other two flickered, but only barely.

Bucky tried to take a few shots, hoping to throw Loki off, but that didn't quite work out, which was just on-par with the kind of day he was having. Instead of being able to land the shot, Bucky felt a sharp corner of something hit him in the head.

He blacked out almost instantly.

* * *

A/N: I'd apologise for that ending, but I'm really not sorry. Also, disclaimer: I've only seen like half of The Avengers and I flat-out refuse to watch Age of Ultron, but because I'm dedicated to my research, I watched a bunch of clips from both films and read up on the MCU wiki which is a complete godsend. So things will be very different and only nodding as vaguely as I can to "canon". Though after the next chapter, most of the Avengers stuff will be relevant bc I'm not really going to follow those movies beyond that. Mostly what I wanted was an excuse for a superhero team up and this happened. I could've gone down that multi-POV character thing but that would've made everything 10x longer so I'm not doing that.

So, Sam knows! Poor Sam, having to deal with this shit. He really deserves a break.

Also, thanks so much for all the comments/kudos/etc so far. It's all seriously appreciated.

Find me on tumblr at bluesargently

Anyway, I'm kind of considering changing the summary for this fic, because I feel like it's sort of shit. So if anyone has any suggestions, that'd be 10/10.


	7. Chapter 7

To: nromanov

From: director

Subject: RE: the Captain

Date: April 20 2015

Romanov,

You're going in. Bring Hawkeye.

N. Fury

Director of S.H.I.E.L.D

/

To: director

From: nromanov

Subject: RE: the Captain

Date: April 20 2015

We're already there.

N. Romanov

Special Agent

/

Despite the fact Steve was in the middle of attacking an alien, he saw the Winter Soldier go down. A stray bit of debris from the building had hit him, and he'd collapsed, landing face-first on the ground. Something in Steve's stomach had dropped at the sight – to see a hero bought down in the middle of a fight was incredibly unsettling, especially considering that this was the Winter Soldier (Steve had sort of started thinking of the man as invincible). So, Steve didn't even think twice before he ran over there to help.

He had to push his way through, ignoring the aliens and Stark's confused shouts as best as he could. He just needed to get to the Soldier – to see if he was okay. Steve crouched down and checked for a pulse, feeling a rush of relief when he found it. The Soldier's pulse is surprisingly steady – it reminded Steve of his own heartbeat under the effects of the serum.

"Thank god," Steve murmured and then looked over the Soldier's body to check for any wounds. Thankfully, there was no blood from the hit, but there was a gash on the Soldier's forehead from where he'd hit the ground. His goggles were cracked terribly, but the mask was still on. Steve debated taking it off, but he hesitated on that. The Soldier was clearly a man who wanted to protect his privacy, and Steve didn't want to compromise that. But, he was injured.

Steve was about to go for it, but then a flash of red and blue light made everything _stop_. For a moment, it was like the whole world was frozen – absolute silence and no movement, but then everything back to normal again. Steve looked over his shoulder, where he saw Scarlet Witch standing over Loki, holding his sceptre and looking down at him curiously as he lay on the ground.

"…Huh?" the Soldier groaned, eyes fluttering underneath the goggles. "'S going on?"

"It's alright," Steve said. "You just got hit."

"Fuck," the Winter Soldier swore.

"Are you alright if I leave you here a moment?"

"'M fine," the Soldier replied weakly. "Need a minute."

"Sure," Steve said and stood up carefully. "I'll be right back."

The Winder Soldier gave him a weak wave and Steve moved off to where Scarlet Witch was.

"What happened?" Steve asked her.

"He's down," she replied, and then held the sceptre out for him. "You need to give this to Stark."

"What for?"

"He'll need it to close the portal," she said. "I can keep Loki here."

Steve didn't doubt that. He'd heard enough about Scarlet Witch's power to know that she was certainly a lot stronger than she looked. Besides, nobody quite knew the extent of her power, and Steve figured that it was far beyond anything anyone could ever really know. Maybe even she didn't know it, but she was sure as hell using it well.

"I'll do it," he said, and grabbed the sceptre.

"Go," she replied.

Steve didn't have to be told twice. He moved as fast as he could through the streets, on the lookout for Stark. He eventually spotted the man himself diving through one of the giant centipede ships before flying out the other end as it exploded.

"Stark!" Steve yelled out, hoping to get the man's attention. It took a moment, but Stark spotting him and flew down and landed in front of him, helmet sliding off to reveal his bruised face.

"Where'd you get that?" Stark asked him warily.

"Scarlet Witch," Steve replied. "You need to use it on the machine to stop the close the portal. She seems to think it'll work."

Stark eyed the sceptre curiously. "Did she say how?"

"I think you can work that part out for yourself," Steve said.

Stark stood a little taller than. "Well, if Captain America thinks I can do it," he said with a smirk.

"Just go, Stark," Steve replied and handed him the sceptre. Iron man gave him a short wave before flying off back to his tower.

Steve then threw himself back into the fight, knocking out an alien that was about to swoop in. A dozen more followed that one, and Steve tried to throw them all off, but it wasn't easy trying to attack several targets all at once. But before he could go down, a car was suddenly being hurled down the street towards him. He dove out of the way just in time and watched on as the aliens were squashed by it. Looking around, he saw the Hulk run down the street towards him.

Steve watched for a moment, sort of fascinated. He'd seen a lot of the news stories on the Hulk, back in the days of his military show tours, when the giant green man (beast?) had all but destroyed Harlem. It'd been big on the news, and Steve had thought the Hulk would've been taken and locked up somewhere, but yet here he was, helping protect the city. He wondered where Stark had found him. Steve moved gracefully out of the way and left the Hulk to continue squashing the aliens there.

Suddenly, there was an almighty rumble and Steve looked up to where the portal was above Stark Tower to see it closing. The living aliens all let out a horrible shriek and then started flying back up towards it.

Once they'd slipped through, most of them only just making it, Steve nearly collapsed in relief. _It's over_ , he thought with a heavy sigh of relief.

A few minutes later, he saw Stark fly down from the tower, and the other heroes he was fighting with move back over to him, even the Winter Soldier, who was moving slowly but surely in Steve's direction. Sam flew down and landed by Steve first, a worried look on his face.

"You okay, man?" Sam asked.

"Fine enough," Steve replied.

Sam shook his head. "You're using your Captain America voice on me."

Steve rolled his eyes. He hated that term – sure, he did make an effort to disguise his voice when out and about as Captain America, lest he run into anyone he knew personally. But that didn't mean he had a whole "voice" going on.

"Yeah, yeah, deny it all you want, but that's the damn truth," Sam replied. "What happened with the portal?"

"Stark closed it – Scarlet Witch got the sceptre," Steve explained.

Sam nodded.

"You can thank me later," Stark cut in, landing beside Sam, who jumped in surprise at the intrusion.

Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch were the next to appear, the former just suddenly sort of _there_ , and Scarlet Witch just sort of floated in, Loki beside her. He was silent, just glaring at the proceedings.

"You're not going to hurt him," Thor said and he flew in. "I will take him to Asgard and his punishment will be dealt with there."

Loki fixed his glare on Thor, opened his mouth to say something but no words came out. He closed it, and continued to glare. Steve assumed that must've been something Scarlet Witch had done to him.

"It wasn't your planet he wrecked, buddy," Stark said.

"He's my brother," Thor repeated.

"He nearly wiped out the planet with his little army."

Thor at least had the gall to look apologetic. "He's adopted," he said, a little sheepish.

"Whatever," Stark said and then looked around, "hey, Cap, where's your Soldier?"

"I'm right here," The Winter Soldier replied as he walked in. He looked like he was limping slightly. "And I'm nobody's—"

He collapsed.

"That doesn't look good," Stark said.

Steve crouched down again and searched for a pulse, feeling relieved when he found it again, still beating strong. "He's still here," he said and pulled the Soldier up and let him lean against his shoulder. The Soldier made a few indistinct mumbling sounds,

"Well, I've got a whole medical centre in my tower," Stark offered.

"That won't be necessary," a voice said, and Steve looked up to see a tall black man with an eye patch strolling onto the scene. He looked tall and confident, like he was meant to be there. Beside him, Steve saw Natasha dressed in her black bodysuit and on the man's other side, a blond man clutching a bow. Both Natasha and the blond guy looked a little banged up, as if they'd been involved in the fight. Steve hadn't seen either of them out there, but they looked beat up enough to have been. Unlike them, the man with the eye patch didn't look like he'd been out there. "The Soldier is coming with us."

"He's—wait, you're my secretary," Stark began, but cut off when he saw Natasha.

" _Was_ your secretary; you were a terrible boss. I quit," Natasha replied with a sharp smile.

"Enough of that," the man with the eye patch said, "there are more important things to talk about here, Romanov."

Stark frowned. "Isn't your name Rushman?"

"Alias," she replied. "Your security team could do with some work."

Stark looked like he was about to argue that, but one look from the man with the eye patch and he was quiet.

"What are you doing here?" Steve asked.

"I'm Nick Fury, these are Agents, Natasha Romanov and Clint Barton" the man with the eye patch said and gestured to Natasha and the blond man respectively. "I'm the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. We're here to talk to you all about the Avengers Initiative."

"The what?" Tony said, blinking in surprise.

"Avengers Initiative. As you're all aware, the world is changing – more and more people like you are you there, and not all of them good. So, what we're looking for here is a team of people with a certain set of skills who can help us defend the earth from these kinds of threats."

"We've been doing just fine without you," Steve said. He really wasn't sure how he felt about this.

"This isn't the same offer as before, Captain, although that still stands. Here, you'd be working with us, not for us."

"What would we need you for?" Stark asked.

"S.H.I.E.L.D is offering information, and access. You'd be able to help a lot more than just New York."

Everyone was silent for a moment. Steve had to admit he was starting to consider the offer – they'd worked well as a team, and it was a relief to have more than one person watching his back.

"I'm in," Steve said, surprising himself.

"Same here," Sam agreed.

"Fine," Stark said. "I'll do it."

"I will protect this Earth," Thor added.

"We're in," Scarlet Witch said and Quicksilver nodded in agreement.

Fury nodded. "Good. Romanov and Barton here will be part of the team too – Black Widow and Hawkeye."

"Hey," said Clint, giving an awkward wave.

"What's so special about them?" Stark asked.

"Romanov has a very unique set of skills, and Barton never misses his shot. They also made sure the other half of the city wasn't overrun by aliens."

Stark nodded. "Well then, join the club."

Fury pulled a set of cards out of his pocket, handing them out. "Meet us at the address on the card in a week. Right now, we need to take the Soldier with us."

"Is that a good idea?" Sam asked.

"We've the only ones equipped to deal with him," Fury said mysteriously, but there was some kind of authority in his tone, as if he was the only one who knew how to deal with the Winter Soldier. Natasha and Clint stepped towards Steve and held out their hands expectantly.

"We'll take him from here," Natasha said.

Steve reluctantly handed him over. "Will he be okay?"

"Should be," Natasha replied. "We'll know more later. Promise I'll let you know."

Steve nodded. He'd take what he could get. Bucky seemed to trust her, and therefore he was okay with that. He then started to wonder if Bucky knew about his friend's secret agent status.

 _Shit_ , _Bucky_ , Steve thought. Was his roommate okay? There were already a lot of dead bodies around, and he desperately hoped Bucky wasn't one of them. He suddenly felt like needed to get back to the apartment _now_.

"Then, this is where I leave you," Fury said, and then turned to Thor. "You'll be able to deal with Loki?"

"He won't hurt anyone again," Thor said.

"You can promise that?"

"It will be dealt with. I apologise for what he has done."

"You'd better do more than that," Fury said seriously. "We'll follow this up."

Thor nodded solemnly and then took Loki, who continued to glare, and flew away.

"Then we'll see you all in a week," Fury said and turned to walk away, Barton and Natasha following behind him.

"Well, this has been an interesting day," Stark said. "But I'm leaving you now. Things to do, and all that."

Stark then zipped away, back up to the tower.

"We'll leave now," Scarlet Witch said and grabbed her brother's hand and they were off, vanishing as if they were never there.

"You sticking around here?" Sam asked.

"I think I will," Steve said. Already, he could see emergency vehicles moving in from the distance, trying to navigate around the damage. "But I should go and find Bucky sometime."

"I'm sure Barnes is fine," Sam said.

"I hope so," Steve said. "I didn't see him when I left."

"He's ex-military," Sam reminded him. "He can take care of himself. C'mon, let's go clean up."

Steve allowed himself to be pulled away and back into the action, but his mind was still a little stuck on Bucky.

 _Please be okay_ , he thought, worry curling in his stomach as he turned to talk to a pair of fire fighters.

/

Bucky woke up in a hospital, blank white walls around him. Panic set in quick, and he tried to leap out of bed, only to be pulled back by the IV cord in his arm. He reached over to it, intending to pull it out and run.

"You don't want to do that," a familiar voice said and he stopped.

"Natasha," Bucky said with a groan and turned to the side to see Natasha sitting in the chair beside his bed. "What am I doing here?"

"I bought you in, again," she replied. "You got hit. Went down. Captain America cried over you."

"What?" Bucky said, completely failing to be casual. "Really?"

"He didn't want to let you go – even asked me to check up on you. Real genuine guy," Natasha said with a smile.

"How did it all go down?"

"Scarlet Witch took out Loki, Stark closed the portal, and the aliens are gone. A happy ending for all of us," she said. "Fury wants to talk to you."

"About what?"

"Just hear him out," Natasha said, and then got up out of her chair. "He's coming in now."

"Natasha—" Bucky called out, but she was already gone, and Fury was walking in.

"Barnes," Fury said.

"Fury," Bucky replied. "What do you want?"

"I want you to be an Avenger."

"What the hell is an Avenger?"

"As you're well aware, Barnes, there's a whole new kind of enemy out there, and we're not always equipped to deal with them. The Avengers Initiative is our way of fighting back. You, and a team of other heroes would work together and defend the Earth alongside S.H.I.E.L.D."

"I'm not working for you."

"You wouldn't be. For the most part, you'd be independent," Fury said. "We've already got volunteers."

"Like who?" Bucky asked.

"Captain America, for one, and the rest of your team today. Romanov and Barton are in too." Fury said. "No word on the Hulk yet, but we're working on it."

"Natasha and _Clint_?" Bucky said confused. He'd met Clint Barton before, not too many times, but enough to know the man had a reputation for having a perfect shot – Hawkeye, they called him. But he also knew, from Natasha, that the man was also a bit of a mess.

"Black Widow and Hawkeye would be valuable members of the team, as would you, Barnes."

"They all agreed to this?"

"Just now," Fury said. "They all agree that this is for the best."

"I don't know," Bucky said.

"You'd do well on that team, Barnes," Fury said. "You want to do that hero thing, and this is the perfect opportunity."

"I already do hero work."

"This would expand your network, and isn't your thing about penance? Then look at it like this: it's a hell of a step up from listening to police scanners all night. You'd make a bigger difference, rather than just spying on cops."

"The last time someone said that to me, I was killing people."

"This isn't the same thing," Fury said. "This is a chance to do something more. You're probably one of the few people in this world who could handle this. We need you here, Barnes."

Bucky thought on it for a long moment. Part of him wanted to outright refuse on principle – he didn't want to get dragged into S.H.I.E.L.D politics, or whatever bullshit they were selling, but he had to admit there was a sort of allure to the idea. He really did want to help people, to make up for the shit he'd done and he had to admit that most nights he did feel a little useless, lurking around and listening to police scanners. Maybe this could be a good thing.

"I'm in," he replied finally. "But on one condition: I'm not with you. I'm not S.H.I.E.L.D property."

"Deal," Fury replied, and then pulled a card out of his jacket and handed it to Bucky. "Meet at this address in a week."

Without another word, Fury left.

Natasha came back in a few minutes later. "So, you're in," she said.

"I can't believe I'm doing this."

"It'll be good for you, James."

"Are you sure?" he asked.

Natasha nodded. "I am," she replied. "I'm in because I wanted to be. Fury would've asked anyway, but I volunteered first."

Bucky raised his eyebrows in surprise. "So you'll stop trying to recruit me?"

"I do what I want, Barnes," Natasha replied. "Though I figure this is a compromise. In, but not too far."

Bucky sighed. "So long as you stop showing up unannounced."

"And forego out little chats? Not a chance," Natasha said.

Bucky gave her a smile. "Alright then," he said. "Any idea when I can get out of here?"

"In a few days, perhaps," Natasha said. "Give you enough time to think about what you're gonna tell your roommate."

Bucky's stomach lurched. "Shit. _Steve_ ," Bucky said. He'd almost forgotten about his roommate and worry set in. God, he really hoped Steve was okay, and not dead crushed under a building somewhere. "I need to see if he's okay."

"Just wait a while," Natasha said. "You were pretty badly injured when we bought you in. Head injuries are tricky."

"I am aware," Bucky said. "Do you know if he's fine?"

"I'm sure he is," Natasha replied.

"I need to call him," Bucky said urgently. " _Now_."

Natasha threw him a phone. "Keep it."

"Thanks," he said and dialled the number from memory. He was glad he'd managed to memorise it so quickly.

The phone rang. And rang. And rang.

Bucky's heart rate picked up. _Shit, shit, shit_ , he thought, stomach sinking.

"Hello?"

Bucky almost fainted in relief. "Steve. God, you're okay."

"Buck," Steve replied, sounding relieved. "I was worried. You weren't picking up."

"Phone got smashed," he lied. "How are you?"

"I'm fine. How are _you_?"

"I'm in hospital—"

"Where?" Steve asked, cutting him off. "What happened?"

"Don't worry," Bucky said.

"How bad is it?"

"Not too bad. They're keeping me here a few days, though. Just for observation."

"Do you want me to come in?"

"I'm kind of in a no-visitors situation right now," Bucky lied. "It's all chaos here."

"How is that fine?"

"There are people checking up on me. I'm really okay."

"I could get Sam to come around? He's got contacts that might let him in and maybe bring some stuff for you?"

"That'd be great, thanks, Steve," Bucky said. He was kind of floored at Steve's kindness. Could this man do any wrong?

"It's nothing," Steve said. "I just want to make sure you're okay. Call me later for an update."

"Sure," Bucky replied. "Bye."

"I'll see you soon," Steve said and hung up.

"You two a thing?" Natasha asked casually once Bucky put down the phone.

"What—no—we're—" Bucky started and then cut himself off. "Why do you ask?"

"You were pretty worried about him."

"We live together," Bucky said defensively.

"Don't think I didn't notice the way you were looking at him when I helped Thor move in. You want it, Barnes."

"He's just a civilian," Bucky said with a sigh. "It doesn't matter."

"You wouldn't tell him the truth?"

"Civilian, Natasha," Bucky repeated. There was no way he'd take that risk – and Steve probably wasn't interested anyway. Sure, the guy might be attracted to dudes, but that didn't mean Bucky would even have half a chance. Not that it mattered, anyway. Steve was just a good person, not some fucked up hero.

Natasha rolled her eyes. "As if that matters. You think he's hot."

Bucky couldn't exactly lie, so he chose evasion. "I can't believe you're fixating on this. You've never cared about my love life before."

"I'm bored," Natasha replied.

"Always a dangerous thing," he said.

Natasha just gave him a smile.

* * *

A/N: Well, there that is. It came a lot quicker than I thought, considering I ended up scraping the entire chapter like three different times. Also, I hope this sort of clears up any confusion as to why Bucky didn't recognise Steve's voice when they meet as heroes (I've been asked about it a few times). I meant to add that in earlier, but I couldn't quite work it out and originally I was gonna leave it to the next chapter, but I managed to sneak it in here.

Anyway, I also posted a preview of a new Steve/Bucky fic (predictably, an AU again) over on tumblr (my current url is bluesargently fyi. Find it under the 'stucky' tag on my blog), if you'd like to check that out. Not sure when I'd end up posting that (it's not done yet), but it's definitely going to be a thing at some point. If any of you could give any feedback on that I'd love you forever.

Continued thanks for the attention you're all giving this fic. It's seriously appreciated.


	8. Chapter 8

New York Bulletin

April 21 2015

 **BATTLE OF NY**

 _Buildings levelled, hundreds killed in Midtown battle._

Full story, pages 3-14

 _City stunned as clean up begins in force_ [p. 14-17]

/

"…Reports are coming in of a team of superheroes, yes a _team_ of heroes working together to stop this. Early reports place Iron Man on the scene, as well as Thor, Captain America, his sidekicks Falcon and the Winter Soldier, as well as Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver, and even the Hulk…."

/

By the time Sam had managed to worm his way into Bucky's hospital room, bypassing whatever red tape Fury had set up, Bucky was bored as shit. There was only so much entertainment one could get from daytime television and staring at minute imperfections on the wall.

"Oh thank God," Bucky said when Sam walked in.

"Nope, just Sam," he said and sat down on the chair beside the bed. "How are you?"

"Fine," Bucky grumbled. "But they want to keep me here."

"You got some super healing thing going on?"

"Something like that," Bucky said. "Who the fuck knows what shit Hydra put into me."

"You don't know?"

"Nobody does," Bucky replied. "They think it might be something like Captain America's thing, but nowhere near the same quality. Sure, I'm stronger and heal faster than the average person, but not that fast."

"Do you know anything about what happened? You don't have to tell me," Sam said.

"No, I should tell you," Bucky replied firmly. He'd already made up his mind about this before Sam arrived. "Not much point in this whole trust thing otherwise."

Sam nodded. "Then talk. I'm listening."

"I joined the army when I was eighteen – soon as I was legally able to fucking do it, I did. I just wanted to make a difference, y'know – get the bad guys, and be a hero.

But, of course, it wasn't like that. Fuck, I wasn't even twenty and they had me out in a fucking warzone. It was about three months into my time over there when it happened.

"I was a sniper – and a good one too. Sure, I was young as fuck, but I was damn good at what I did, so they sent me out a lot. Then you know how it goes – IED and all that shit, arm got blown off, and then I woke up while someone was dragging me away. I thought it was someone from my unit, so I relaxed."

Then I woke up somewhere else. Fuck if I know where it was; probably some shithole in the desert. There were a bunch of guys working on me, operating on my arm. I wasn't sure what the fuck was going on, and I blacked out. Later, I woke up with—a whole new arm."

Bucky took a deep breath. He'd forgotten how hard it was to tell this, even if he was bypassing the more grizzly details – not because he didn't think Sam could handle it, but because he couldn't. Besides, most people who'd heard this were already very intimate with his bloody background.

"After that," Bucky began once he'd collected himself, "they did a lot of shit to me. Experiments and all that – I suppose the arm was part of it and they just got lucky when mine got blown off. I don't know. I can't tell you what exactly happened – I don't remember shit. Just patches of memory, and even then I wasn't exactly in the best state. Point is, they fucked me up, and by the end of it, I didn't even know my own name."

They made me do it all – it wasn't like I'd had much of a choice anyway. I didn't even know there _was_ such a thing as choice. They'd turned me into a machine, and a pretty damn effective one. Whatever you think you've found, there's a lot that nobody knows about. I've killed a lot of people, and maybe more if Natasha hadn't found me."

"She bought you in?" Sam asked.

"Yeah, and I owe her forever and beyond for that. She found me in Russia, during a mission. I don't even know how she'd managed to beat me, because I'm pretty sure I nearly killed her, but she did. Next thing I know, I was locked up in S.H.I.E.L.D HQ until they could figure out what to do with me."

I was only with Hydra for three years, and it took just about as long to get myself back, and that was with more doctors than a fucking hospital. Honestly, I'm surprised S.H.I.E.L.D even bothered trying to fix me."

"You think they would've killed you?"

"I know they would've, if it looked like I wasn't going to be useful. I'm pretty sure I nearly killed a few people in my first weeks here," Bucky admitted, thinking back to those early days of recovery. He'd been a mess then, stuck in a strange in-between state – not quite machine, but not human either. "Of course, once I was good to go, they tried to recruit me again – been hounding at me for years to become their assassin."

"I get that," Sam said. "Once I got out of the Army, I didn't want to have anything to do with it. Almost refused Cap's offer when he asked, but I figured if Captain America wanted me in, he'd have a good reason."

"How did you get out?" Bucky asked.

Sam sighed. "It was a few years after they called off your rescue. I had a partner – Riley. One night, we were out on patrol, and he got hit. Went down before I could do anything about it."

"Shit, I'm sorry," Bucky said.

"It was years ago," Sam replied, though Bucky could hear the rough edge of pain in his voice. "I still wake up at night sometimes, and have to remind myself I'm not back there."

Bucky nodded. "I get nightmares," he said. "Fucking terrible ones."

Sam smiled wearily. "First few months I was out, I didn't sleep more than a couple a night, if anything. I ran a lot. Eventually found my way to the VA. That helped. Can't say it's all sunshine now, but it's better than it was."

"I've never been. Can't say I've ever seen the point."

"You'd be surprised," Sam said. "Maybe you're doing a lot better now, but not everyone is. Your story might help. No pressure, though – just give it some thought."

Bucky nodded. He'd really never thought about the idea – after all, it wasn't like he was the average vet. His life was infinitely more complicated than that.

"Maybe," he conceded.

Sam gave him a smile. "Oh, and before I forget, here's the stuff Steve wanted to pass on."

Bucky took the bag of stuff Sam handed him gratefully. "Tell him thanks," he replied, once again amazed at how fucking nice Steve was. Sure, they'd been living together for almost two months now, but this was beyond any expectations he'd had of a roommate. His last place had been a sort of share house, and his landlord had lived below him, but eventually got too angry at Bucky's nightly escapades and odd fucking hours that came with a superhero lifestyle. Their relationship had been entirely strained and culminated with the landlord telling him he had to pull his shit together or move out. Bucky had taken the latter option, and was more thankful than ever he had.

"No problem," Sam said. "He was pretty fucking worried about you."

"I'm still not telling him anything," Bucky replied. "What about you?"

"Oh, Steve knows about what I do," Sam said casually.

"What?" Bucky said, suddenly feeling more off-kilter than the head injury had made him feel. "You told him? When?"

Sam gave him a look. "He's known for a while, and I trust him," Sam replied.

Bucky shook his head. "He's a civilian," Bucky replied, and then suddenly panic hit. "You haven't said anything about me?"

"No, of course not. That's your secret to tell," Sam said. "But I think it might do you good to be honest with him."

"It's too much of a risk," Bucky insisted.

"It'd be better than trying to sneak around so much," Sam replied. "Think about it."

"I—it's too much," Bucky replied. "He's just a civilian and I can't tell him that. Once he knows, it won't be safe for him."

"You don't know that," Sam replied. "Steve can handle himself."

"I can't tell him, Sam," Bucky replied.

Sam sighed. "Well, alright then. But if you're ever ready, ask Steve about the SSR."

Bucky frowned. Something about that tugged at his brain, but he couldn't work out what. "Fine," he conceded, though he really didn't think it'd ever come to that. He wasn't ever planning on telling Steve _anything_. It was better that way. He didn't understand how Sam could be casual about all of this. Sure, Steve was a good person, but Bucky wasn't sure if he could trust anyone, let alone Steve with his identity.

He'd really only told Sam on impulse, and only because he'd worked out Sam's identity first – it seemed fair. But he was sort of regretting that now, though he had to admit it was nice to have someone else he didn't have to hide from – someone who was unconnected with S.H.I.E.L.D and all their secrecy.

"Anyway, I should get going," Sam said apologetically. "I'm sure you're bored as hell, but I think Steve's got you sorted there."

"Huh?" Bucky asked.

"Look in the bag, Barnes," Sam replied. "I'll see you around."

Bucky looked in the bag. Inside, there were clothes from his room, and a set of DVDs from their communal set, and a portable player.

 _Is he for fucking real?_ Bucky thought, picking out a DVD at random and setting it up to play.

/

Steve is most certainly _not_ pacing around the apartment, waiting for Bucky to get home. He's not worried. He's fine, and everything is okay. It'd been a couple of days since the Battle of New York, as the news was calling it, and Steve had mostly been lying low and lying to any concerned neighbours about what he'd been up to.

Thor had shown up yesterday, looking closed off and sad, even after Steve had waved hello. Steve had made a mental note to bake Thor some more cookies sometime – he'd enjoyed the last batch immensely and Steve figured, after what had happened with his brother Thor deserved something nice. It can't have been easy to do that. Steve had never had any siblings, but he could imagine.

He was also thinking about the Winter Soldier too – Natasha had given him an update, saying the man was fine and recovering well, but no more than that. Steve had also been tempted to ask her to let him see the Soldier, but he felt like that might have been a bit much. He didn't really know the man, and they weren't friends so an unexpected hospital visit might have been too much. But he had gotten a terrible hit, and Steve was worried about it.

By the time Steve heard the door unlock, he'd had to hold himself back from running to the door, instead sitting on the couch and tapping his thighs nervously. Sam had reported that Bucky seemed fine – a little banged up, but otherwise doing well when he'd gone to see him (Steve had almost begged Sam to let him come with, but he figured whatever connections Sam had probably couldn't pull that). He hadn't said what hospital Bucky was in, only that he knew it and Steve hadn't pressed the issue.

"I'm back," Bucky said and Steve looked up to see Bucky standing there, carrying the bag of stuff Steve had sent him. Steve stood up, meaning only to just give Bucky a once-over to see that he was really okay, but before he knew what he was doing, he'd pulled Bucky in for a hug.

Bucky stood there a little awkwardly at first, and Steve loosened his grip, preparing to move back into less invasive territory, but then Bucky was pulling him in closer, returning the hug.

"I'm so glad you're okay," Steve said, face half-buried in Bucky's neck.

"Me too," Bucky said. "I was worried about you."

"You're the one who ended up in hospital."

"It was fine," Bucky said. "I was out near where shit was going down, and I don't think I moved fast enough."

"You could've been killed out there!" Steve said, perhaps a little more harshly than necessary.

"So could you," Bucky said.

"I left as soon as things started looking serious," Steve replied. "I didn't really see any of the action on anything but the TV."

"Good," Bucky said with a relieved sigh, and Steve could feel Bucky's breath on his skin. He suddenly realised they hadn't broken the hug, and were still clinging to each other like limpets.

"Anyway, I should, um, help you with that," Steve said and pulled back reluctantly to grab Bucky's bag. It looked a little lumpier than when Steve had packed it, but he didn't comment.

"You really don't need to," Bucky insisted, but Steve didn't pay any attention to that, instead picking up the bag and moving straight to Bucky's room. Was it his imagination, or was the bag heavier than when he'd packed it?

"You should rest," Steve said, but Bucky didn't listen and followed him through he corridor.

"I'm really fine. Let me take that," Bucky replied and grabbed the bag. "I'm not an invalid."

"You were in the hospital for three days."

"I'm really okay, Steve," Bucky said seriously. "Look at me. I'm fine."

Steve looked at Bucky, checking him over. There wasn't even a bandage on his body. "Alright," he said, and suddenly remembered how much he'd hated how people fussed back when he was sick. "Sorry."

"It's okay," Bucky replied. "I'll let you feed me chicken noodle soup later if that makes you feel better."

Steve rolled his eyes, and let Bucky go put the bag away. He walked back to the lounge and turned on the TV again, where news reports were still streaming out, broadcasting live from various sites with people talking about what they'd seen. Steve had been back out there a few times, dressed up as Captain America and helping with some of the tougher reconstruction. Stark had already sent out his team of people, a mass of construction workers and equipment that was steadily clearing away the damage. It was a slow process, and Steve had no idea how New York was ever going to be the same again after this.

As far as he could tell, nobody could quite work out what had happened, and most were still trying to grapple with the fact that aliens were real. People were trying to reach Tony Stark for commentary, and all he'd given them was a firm conformation that he had nothing to do with the device that had opened the portal and that he'd worked with a team of "New York's finest" to stop the attack.

There were shaky cell-phone videos out there, and people's firsthand accounts scattered all over various websites. Reading those had hit Steve the hardest – he'd seen the death toll and how fucking large it was. It had made his stomach drop to see such a number. It was the worst disaster New York had ever seen, and people were deeply unsettled. Steve had no idea how anyone was going to smooth this over, and he wondered if the Avengers factored into this at all. He figured this might have been Fury's plan in the event of such a disaster – he hadn't seen much of the man, but he figured that man had to be incredibly smart if he ran an organisation like S.H.I.E.L.D.

"It's really fucked up out there," Bucky said as he sat down on the couch, pulling Steve out of his thoughts.

"Yeah, it's…" Steve trailed off, unsure of how to describe any of it. "The whole thing doesn't feel real."

"I know what you mean - shit, when I saw those fucking aliens, I thought I was hallucinating, but then they started attacking."

"How much did you see?" Steve asked.

"Not much, really," Bucky replied. "But more than I wanted to ever see."

"I just can't believe it. Aliens," Steve said, shaking his head.

"Can't be any weirder than super soldiers in tights or the fucking Hulk."

"I remember when that happened," Steve recalled. "I wasn't in New York at the time, and I thought it was someone's idea of a hoax."

"I don't think I was around either," Bucky said. "But seeing this? That makes the whole thing then seem like nothing. Though I did think I saw the Hulk out there."

"Really?" Steve lied, feigning surprise.

"Yeah – looked like he might've been trying to help."

Steve recalled what he'd seen of the damage. They probably would've been a lot worse off than if the Hulk hadn't been there. "You're lucky you're okay."

"That I am," Bucky replied. "Anyway, I feel like that's enough battle talk. They've been going on about that shit all the time on TV. I'm sick of hearing about it now. Seriously, you got no idea how thankful I am you got those DVDs for me."

Steve blushed. "It was no trouble," he said and reached foe the remote to turn the television off.

"No, really, it was great," Bucky insisted. "I don't know what I would've done if you hadn't put those in."

"I thought you'd get bored," Steve replied. "Hospitals aren't exactly known for their entertainment."

"Oh yeah, I forgot you'd know all about that," Bucky said. "Is that why you had one of those?"

"Yeah," Steve admitted. "I had a pack I'd get someone to bring when I needed it."

"Well, I'm glad you got that for me," Bucky said, smiling.

"It was really no trouble," Steve replied. "I'm just glad Sam was able to come in."

"Yeah," Bucky replied. "It would've been nice to have more visitors, though. Bullshit system."

"I would've come in," Steve said.

"I know that," Bucky said with another smile. "Sam only just managed to get in as is."

"Did you call Natasha?" Steve asked. He wondered what Natasha had told Bucky about her involvement in the battle.

"Oh yeah," Bucky replied. "She knows I'm fine."

"How is she?" he asked.

"Doing well. Seemed a little shaken by it, but knowing her she's fine by now," Bucky replied. "I know she can handle herself."

"She seems like a pretty tough person," Steve said. "You should invite her over sometime."

"Yeah," Bucky replied. "She's great, honestly. Not sure what I'd have done without her in my life."

The way Bucky had spoken, made Steve wonder exactly what had happened between the two of them to make Bucky talk about her like that, but he didn't press the issue. It was Bucky's personal shit, and Steve really didn't have a right to ask, despite his curiosity.

"Anyway," Steve began, "I'm going to make cookies. Thor was looking really sad when I saw him, and I figure it might cheer him up. Wanna help?"

Bucky blinked at him, and Steve suddenly felt awkward about the entire idea. "Are you even a person?" Bucky said.

"What?"

"You're unbelievable," Bucky said. "Nobody just does that."

"Well," Steve began, but Bucky cut him off with a wave of his arm.

"I'm not saying it's a bad thing. You're kind of fucking incredible."

Steve didn't know what to say to that. Instead he just blushed again, unable to help it. "Uh, thanks," Steve said, feeling a little awkward at the praise.

"Seriously," Bucky continued, shaking his head incredulously. "You're too fucking pure."

Steve rolled his eyes at that. "You want to make cookies or just sit there and compliment me? Because I'm fine with either."

Bucky suddenly was up pretty quickly after that. "Cookies. Yes, let's do that," Bucky said as he moved towards the kitchen.

Once they were there. Steve moved around and got out the ingredients; he was thankful he'd thought ahead to buy some earlier in the day, though mostly that had been a distraction so he wouldn't be waiting at the door for Bucky to arrive.

It was a simple process from there, with Steve giving Bucky simpler tasks like measuring out ingredients and doing some of the lighter work. Sure, Bucky might have insisted he was fine, but Steve still wanted him to take it easy.

"Man, I haven't made cookies from scratch in forever," Bucky commented as he measured out the flour.

"I can't believe you haven't," Steve said with a shake of his head. "You're not a terrible cook."

"Never been able to justify it," Bucky replied. "Besides, they take forever to cook, and I'm always worried I'd get a call for work and let them burn."

"Oh, I did that once," Steve admitted.

"Really?" Bucky said.

"Yeah," Steve replied, thinking back to that incident. "It was embarrassing as hell. That's why there's a weird stain on the roof. The oven caught fire and there was a whole building evacuation."

Bucky looked up. "Huh," he said. "I've never seen that before."

"Really? God, it was so embarrassing. They thought it was some old lady who'd done it."

Bucky laughed. "And then it was you."

"It was me," Steve replied. He'd been in superhero gear too, trying to sneak back in when he'd seen the fire engines and suddenly had to readjust his entire plan for sneaking back in.

"Well, there's two of us now," Bucky said. "I'll protect you from burned cookies."

Steve laughed. "Sure, Buck," he said and then began to throw the dry ingredients in the bowl. "Now let's try and make these cookies."

The cookies were made perfectly incident-free, and Steve was seriously pleased with how they'd turned out. They were just the right amount of golden, and the chocolate chips were melted perfectly and spread evenly through the cookies.

"Well, we didn't burn the apartment down," Bucky said once they'd pulled the tray out of the oven. "It's a success."

"Thank god," Steve joked. "I was worried."

"Well, I'm here now," Bucky said with a smile and then looked back down at the cookies, breathing in deeply. "Fuck, do we have to take these all to Thor? They look too good."

"You didn't see his face," Steve said. "He deserves cookies. Besides, I can make more later if you want."

"Careful," Bucky warned. "I might just take you up on that and you'll never stop baking."

Steve laughed. "Come on, let these cool and I'll take them over. You should rest up a little."

Bucky rolled his eyes. "I've been resting for days. I'm going with you. Besides, what if Thor starts crying? You need backup for these things."

"Sure, Buck," Steve replied.

Once the cookies were cool enough, Steve threw them in a container and walked out of the apartment to Thor's place, Bucky following behind him. He knocked on the door and waited a moment for Thor to appear.

"Steve? Bucky?" Thor said when he'd opened the door. He still looked sad, and Steve felt a pang of sympathy. It can't have been easy for him to turn Loki in. "Why are you here?"

"Cookies," Steve said and held up the container for Thor to see.

"Steve thought you could use some," Bucky added.

Thor was suddenly incredibly alert. "This is an incredible gift," he said earnestly, smiling at the two of them.

"It's no trouble," Steve replied, and suddenly Thor was pulling him into a bone-crushing hug. He let go, and then turned to Bucky and hugged him too.

"Seriously, it's no trouble," Bucky said.

"You are good men," Thor said, still smiling. He looked actually happy now, and Steve felt a warm glow at being able to put that smile on his face.

Bucky waved him off. "You doing okay, pal?" he asked.

"I am better now," Thor said, the smile on his face widening.

* * *

A/N: Woo another speedy update. This time, with actual baking and domestic things going on. I figured I the characters were owed a break after the intensity of the last couple chapters. So, emotional discussions, hugs and cookie baking it is. Originally, this was supposed to include the Avengers First Official Meeting, but I was nearing 3k and I realised I should probably move that scene or else this would be too long.

Also, I'm starting to contemplate maybe starting some sort of extras/outtakes thing at some point for this fic, because there's a lot of things going on in the background that I don't know if I'll be able to touch on because there's no real space for it in this thing but I want to write on sometime. Thoughts?

And as always, thanks so much for all the follows/faves/reviews you're all giving this fic. I appreciate it so much.

find me on tumblr at bluesargently.


	9. Chapter 9

_Hey Buck,_

 _I'll be out all day tomorrow. Don't worry about me, but I'll probably be back a little late._

 _\- Steve_

/

 _Steve,_

 _Don't know if you'll see this, but I'm out all day today too. A big job's come up._

 _\- B_

/

The address on the card Fury had given him was in a nondescript part of Brooklyn Heights, but Bucky was still incredibly careful on arrival. He didn't rush there, instead waiting on the roof of a building nearby, close enough that he could see what was going on but also far away enough that he didn't have to worry too much about being spotted right away. Just because he'd agreed work with S.H.I.E.L.D on this didn't mean he was going to walk in blindly.

Natasha and Clint were the first to arrive, walking out of some jet that vanished into thin air when they got out of it. Bucky wondered if that was some kind of alien tech they'd hijacked after the battle. He wouldn't have put it past S.H.I. . They liked new toys.

They waited there for a while before Captain America and Sam showed up, Sam carrying the Captain onto the roof. They talked to Natasha and Clint for a moment, seemingly exchanging pleasantries. Bucky still didn't go down there.

Iron Man was next in line – flying in dramatically and landing on his feet gracefully and giving everyone a large wave. But he wasn't alone – there was someone with him, who Bucky paid close attention to. It was a man in a purple shirt – short, with dark hair, light skin and glasses. He looked sort of rumpled, and tense. Bucky wondered whom the hell he was, and decided to maybe stay back. Stark didn't seem the type to bring someone at random, but then again, who could be sure with Stark. He was unpredictable, though he had some sort of twisted reasoning behind whatever the hell he did.

Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver were the next to arrive, sort of appearing on the roof together as if they'd been there already. The man with the purple shirt flinched and tensed up, but Scarlet Witch just held up her hands and said something to him and he relaxed slightly. Stark seemed surprised at this and regarded the interaction with interest.

Lastly, Thor was there, flying in gracefully and greeting everyone there with a wide smile. He looked better than he had before he and Steve had given him the cookies. Bucky decided that maybe one day they should invite Thor around – the man seemed sort of lonely outside of hero work. He didn't have any visitors since Natasha helped him move in, and Bucky figured the guy could use a friend.

After a few long moments of quiet observation, Bucky decided it was probably time he revealed himself, though he didn't doubt Natasha knew he was already lurking. When he got there, Captain America gave him a relieved smile, and Sam a short nod. The rest of them gave him a short wave, bar Stark, who rolled his eyes.

"Cyborg, you're late," he said.

Bucky rolled his eyes – he'd gone without the goggles today, as they were still smashed up from the invasion, so Stark could see the gesture. "I'm here now," he replied.

"Let's get going then," Natasha said and then waved at the ship, which suddenly re-appeared to the surprise of most people there.

"Banner, we're building one of those," Stark said to the purple shirt man, who just nodded sagely.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Bucky asked flatly. He didn't really see any point in beating around the bush here.

"Hulk," Bruce replied.

Bucky's eyebrows shot up. "That's you?"

"Gamma radiation – it's a long story," Bruce said. "Just keep your distance, and everything will be fine with the other guy."

Bucky nodded – he understood the whole distance thing a little too well. That'd been him just a few years before.

"How are we all going to fit? Like clowns?" Quicksilver asked, studying the ship.

"It's roomier than it looks," Clint said with a shrug, and walked up to the craft and tapping at the door, which opened upwards. "Get in."

They all crowded in, and sure enough, they fit, even Thor and Captain America who by all rights, should've been crowded in completely. Instead, they mostly fit, only ducking a little – Thor more than Cap.

Bucky ended up being squished in between the Captain and Sam, which he didn't mind. Sam was all right, and Bucky honestly didn't mind being pressed right up against Captain America (even if it wasn't in the best of circumstances – he'd take what he could get with someone with that kind of physique).

During the eerily silent take off, Captain America turned to Bucky. "You doing better now?" he asked.

"I'm good," Bucky replied. "Injuries weren't that bad."

"They looked serious," the Captain said. "I was, uh, worried."

Bucky felt strangely pleased to hear that. "Well, I might not heal as fast as you, but I'm not slow either."

The Captain seemed surprised. "You got the serum?"

Bucky shrugged. He didn't want to particularly divulge this here with everyone listening. "Something like that," he replied.

"Aren't you a man of wonders," Stark cut in. "First you've got that arm – and this super-healing thing too, though that makes sense."

"Tony," Banner said.

"You're curious too, Bruce, don't deny it," Iron Man replied.

Bruce didn't seem to have anything to say to that.

"Hey, when are we landing?" Iron Man asked.

"We're going up, Stark, that takes a while," Natasha replied.

Bucky wondered what the hell that meant.

/

The Helicarrier was a surprise to Steve, but once he'd gotten over the initial shock, he wasn't sure why he should be surprised. It seemed that since the SSR days, S.H.I.E.L.D had done a lot more to think about security. Of course they'd take to the skies, rejecting the bunkers that the SSR once favoured. Stark was instantly taken by it, talking excitedly at Bruce about it (Steve still couldn't get over the fact that this man was _the Hulk_ ). Thor was also impressed, talking about Asgardian technology to Sam who listened patiently. Natasha and Clint looked a little bored, though Steve figured this was nothing new to them.

However, the rest of the team didn't seem so keen on the idea. Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver stood close together, whispering in some foreign tongue with wide, suspicious eyes. The Winter Soldier too looked wary, bright grey eyes scanning every minute detail around him. Steve wondered what kind of history these three had to be so wary.

Once they got inside the Helicarrier, Steve thought it was almost even more impressive on the inside. There were rows and rows of computers, and giant glass windows looking out into the sky. Agents sat every one of the computers, typing away seriously. A few glanced their way, trying not to look too curious, while others made a more deliberate move to ignore them and appear casual.

"I have to hand it to you, this is a surprisingly good set-up," Stark commented.

"Glad we can get your approval." Natasha replied dryly. "This way."

Natasha led them all through a long corridor, passing various meeting rooms and other more secretive-looking doors that probably held the mysteries of S.H.I.E.L.D behind them.

The room they were in was a standard meeting room, though the table had enough seating for them all. Steve sat down first, picking a spot in the middle on the left side. Sam sat down on one side, closer to the front, and in a surprising turn of events, the Winter Soldier took the other seat, while Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver took the next two seats. Stark was directly across from him, with Bruce on one side and Thor on the other. Natasha and Clint were the last to sit down, taking the two spare seats on Tony's side.

"ETA on Fury?" Stark asked.

"He'll be here soon," Natasha replied. "Don't hold your breath."

They waited in a sort of awkward silence for a while, until Fury strode in.

"Avengers," he said by way of greeting. "Let's get down to business. You already know why I picked you, though now it's time to be clear on what exactly your mission is."

"I thought our mission was to help people?" the Winter Soldier said. He looked at Fury warily, as if he was waiting for the man to give him a reason to bolt. Or attack.

"That it is, Soldier," Fury replied. "But helping people doesn't just mean showing up when there's trouble."

"I already told you I'm not killing people anymore," the Soldier said flatly.

"What exactly are you asking us to do?" Steve asked. He understood the Soldier's wariness – he didn't like the idea of killing people either.

"I want you to take down Hydra," Fury said flatly.

The Winter Solider tensed at the name.

"Who the hell is Hydra?" Stark asked.

"Is it a mighty beast?" Thor asked, looking a little excited at the possibility.

"Hydra is a group with origins in Nazi Germany – they were formed in World War Two as a science division, but have since evolved into a more sinister threat."

"Nazis? Who knew they were that organised," Stark commented.

"What part of killing off your enemies is helping people out?"

"Our agents can't handle Hydra as they once did," Fury said. "You better than anyone should know that, Soldier."

"What does he mean?" Stark asked, looking at the Soldier.

The Soldier sighed. "Before I was a hero, I was their assassin."

"You're a turncoat?"

"I wasn't exactly on their side willingly."

Stark looked like he was about to say something else, but then Scarlet Witch cut him off.

"They made us what we are – my brother, and me" she said. "Experimented on us. We didn't have a choice, so we ran when we could."

"They're still looking for us," Quicksilver said. "But we've been fast."

The Soldier still seemed tense, but looked a lot more relaxed than he had before the twins had spoken. It made Steve wonder exactly what history the Soldier has with S.H.I.E.L.D. He made a mental note to ask about that later. Maybe the Soldier knew something he didn't, or he could be just a generally suspicious person. Either way, Steve wanted to know.

"I'm in," Steve said. "If they've hurt people, then they need to be stopped."

"Is there anything specific you want us to do?" Bruce asked, speaking up for the first time in the meeting.

"We want you to destroy Hydra bases, and out them out of work."

"I'm not your assassin," the Solider said coolly, glaring at Fury.

"You don't have to kill anyone," Fury said. "If it happens, that's what happens."

The Soldier didn't reply to that, but Steve could see the anger in his eyes.

"Is there anything else we need to know?" Stark asked.

"Do you any anything to add?"

Stark stood up. "As a matter of fact, yes, I do."

Fury gestured for him to continue. Steve tensed, waiting for whatever Stark was going to say. His gut told him it probably wasn't going to be good.

"I want to know who I'm working with exactly," Stark announced.

"You already know who we are, Stark," Steve pointed out.

"Do I? Look, I don't give a shit about the specifics, but I'd like to have a little trust here. If we're keeping secrets, we can't be a proper team."

"You've fought beside me before and that hasn't mattered," Steve said, feeling a little more than uncomfortable at Stark's request.

"He has a point," Natasha cut in.

"Just because the rest of us know who you are doesn't mean we owe you our identities," Steve said.

"If you didn't know who I was, I'd still be asking," Stark replied.

The Winter Soldier made a low, aggressive sound. "I'm not telling you anything."

Stark regarded the Soldier carefully. "Look, I could probably find this all out myself, but I'm not going to. I'd prefer it if you tell me, cut out the middleman and all. Besides, half the team here is already open enough - Alien Prince here, Mr & Mrs Smith, Bruce, and myself. You lot?" Stark gestured to Steve's side of the table. "You're a fucking mystery."

"There's a reason I don't tell people who I am," Steve said. "I can't give that information out to just anyone."

"We're not anyone," Stark said. "We're the Avengers – your _team_. And that means we need to trust each other."

Sam sighed from beside Steve. "Sam Wilson," he said and pulled the goggles off his face. "I work at the VA, and if you show up there are scare my vets, Stark, I'm kicking you out."

"You sure you wanted to do that?" Steve asked.

"The government already knows who I am, anyway, this doesn't matter," Sam replied.

"Well, then, thanks for sharing, Sam. Good to know you have the right idea here."

"I'm not expecting anyone else to say anything," Sam said.

"There's a long list of people who'd come for me if they knew who I was," Steve said. "This isn't personal."

"Nobody else is going to know," Stark said. "Unless someone in here speaks. The room in here is secure. JARVIS took care of that."

"You do realise that's illegal, Stark?" Fury cut in.

"And you'll realise it's in your best interest to keep quiet here," Stark said. "You need us."

Fury sighed, obviously annoyed. "You're lucky you do, or I'd throw you off here myself."

"I'd like to see you try."

"You really don't," Clint said. "He's done it before."

Stark ignored that. "Anyone else speaking up? Or is this a conversation we're going to keep having?"

"My name is Wanda," Scarlet Witch said. "Wanda Maximoff. I already know you all."

"Pietro," Quicksilver replied with a shrug. "We're twins."

Steve suddenly felt cornered. He'd gone so long without saying anything that opening up felt almost impossible. Telling Sam had been easy – they'd trusted each other absolutely already, but these new people, he wasn't sure what to do.

Physically, it would be easy to just take off the cowl and tell them his name, but he was hesitating.

But before he could open his mouth, a siren cut through the silence, and Fury swore.

"Looks like we might need you all sooner than we thought," Fury said wearily.

/

In Bucky's opinion, the whole robot thing was so completely overdone, but the one standing in the middle of New York didn't seem to get the memo. It wasn't a particularly large one, in fact it just looked like some dude made out of metal, reminding Bucky far too much of his own arm.

"Ah, Captain," the robot said when they arrived, eyes fixing on Captain America. "We meet again. And your team too – how lucky I am."

"You know this guy?" Stark asked.

Captain America shook his head. "Never seen him before."

"Ah, you don't recognise this form," the robot said. "I was once a man who made robots – you fought them well, but I've upgraded myself since then."

The Captain squinted. "You're not that jumpsuit guy, are you?"

"Machinesmith, is my name," the robot said.

"You don't look that impressive," the Captain said.

The robot – Machinesmith – smiled. It was an eerie sight, and several new limbs extended from his body like metallic tentacles. One had a round saw attached, while the others had some sort of laser guns.

"I've made better in my sleep," Stark taunted.

"I'd like to see you beat me," Machinesmith said.

"We've got a Hulk – want to see?" Stark asked, and the Hulk leapt up and went in for a hit, but Machinesmith moved out of the way fluidly at the last second, leaving the Hulk to hit the asphalt hard. This seemed to only further infuriate the Hulk, who went in again and managed to rip off the appendage with the saw.

Machinesmith let out a horrible sound when the limb was ripped off, and suddenly released some kind of net at the Hulk, which hit and managed to keep him on the ground. If it hadn't been such a horrible battle situation, Bucky might have almost been impressed at the sheer strength of the net, but there wasn't time for that.

He then signalled to Pietro (it was strange to have a name to attach to the hero), Sam, Natasha and Clint to move out. They weren't the "strong" ones, but they could all provide decent distractions so someone else with more physically strong power to get in a hit.

Once they'd all taken position – Natasha on one side, Clint on the other and Bucky at the back, while Sam took the skies and Pietro darting around a as a flashy distraction – they fired their various weaponry at the robot, though none of it could actually do much damage. It seemed Machinesmith had thought this one ahead and made his body tough enough accordingly, though all the fire provided extra distraction.

At this point, Stark went in for a hit, firing up his repulsors. But because their lucky today seemed to be shit all, Machinesmith held a metallic palm up at Stark, who suddenly went down hard.

Thor didn't wait to move off next, throwing his hammer at Machinesmith, who somehow ducked out of the way as the Hammer kept moving. Thor flew after it, disappearing out of sight.

This left Cap and Wanda to go in. Bucky watched as Cap nodded at Wanda, whose hands lit up and started shooting balls of energy at Machinesmith, who kept starting out of the way just in time and leaving some sort of protective barrier around the Captain so no stray bullet or arrow hit him.

Suddenly, Wanda freezes in the street, staring wide-eyed at Machinesmith and collapses. Bucky could hear a cry from Pietro, who appeared there in a flash and then carried Wanda off the scene.

The Captain was alone on the front now, and seemed to think it was his time to take a shot.

"Just you and me now," the Captain said. "Let's fight."

Machinesmith smiled again. "You cannot defeat me."

Bucky huffed in annoyance – if he had a dollar for anytime someone said that – and then threw a grenade. This somehow prompts Captain America to leap in for a hit, jumping up at Machinesmith and grabbing on, but the robot shoots a repulsor, and the Captain falls.

Bucky swore, and looked up at Natasha, who had something flashing in her palm – widow's bites. Bucky smiled; he'd seen her use them before, on him back in their first brutal fight together. They were extremely powerful, and just one of them was good enough to disable use of his arm.

He watched on as Natasha crept in closer, while Bucky distracted Machinesmith with another grenade, and Hawkeye with a few arrows attached to flash grenades. This disoriented Machinesmith long enough for Natasha to be picked up by Sam who flew her in close enough so she could throw the bites. They hit the mark, and Machinesmith let out some awful cry as the bites activated. Sparks flew everywhere, and the robotic body collapsed onto the street.

Bucky ran in, where Sam and Natasha were standing over Machinesmith's body. Thor flew back in and apologised for the Hammer's loss.

"I do not know what happened – Mjölnir does not normally do that," he said, looking down worriedly.

"It's cool. You see where Cap went?" Sam asked the group.

"Quicksilver took him," Bucky replied, and sure enough, Pietro chose that moment to return.

"They're safe," he said. "The Captain is injured. My sister is fine – she was disoriented by his mind."

Sam sighed in relief. "Thank god," he said, and Bucky was reminded of how long Sam and the Captain had been fighting together – they'd been a team longer than the rest of them, except maybe Natasha and Clint.

"I'm alright too, so thanks for asking," Stark said, wandering up to the group.

"Good to know," Bucky replied dryly.

"A little help?" Banner asked, back to himself under the netting.

"Sure thing," Stark said and went over to disable it.

"Where is the Captain?" Sam asked Pietro, who pointed to a building across the street.

"He's in there."

"Then let's go," Sam said, and they all walked in there, where Pietro led them to a room where Wanda was standing over the Captain's body.

"He's breathing," she said. "I can't do anything for him. His body heals too fast."

Sam looked down at the Captain. "He'll need a hospital."

"I can help with that one," Stark said.

"I'm not sure he'd want that, Stark," Sam replied. "It's too public."

"I'll have you know my security is in perfect form," Stark replied. Natasha snorted.

"I could break in there right now if I wanted to," she said.

"I've changed the system since you left me, Romanov," Stark said.

"I knew that," she said with a sharp smile, and then turned to Sam. "If you need off the grid, I can do that. S.H.I.E.L.D won't know, either."

Sam looked at her carefully. "Are you sure?"

"Of course," she said. "Nobody will look at him twice."

"She can do it," Bucky added.

Sam sighed. "Then let's go," he said.

"I'll call a car," she said and picked up a phone, dialling a number and walking out of the room to make the call.

Stark looked at Sam seriously. "We're talking about this later."

Sam shrugged, looking unconcerned. "If you must."

"We're good to go," Natasha said, walking back in.

"So, uh, do we have to carry him ourselves?" Clint asked.

* * *

A/N: Fun fact I was gonna publish this last night but just as I was about to hit post I realised I'd completely forgotten to include Thor in the fight. So, I went back and had to rework the entire fight, which I'd already spent enough time trying to work out. I was trying to look for someone else, but then I remembered this guy, who'd slunk off during the last battle and I figured, why not bring him back. Totally inaccurate re: comic canon, but whatever. And holy crap this is over 30k now like ? wow.

Also, I'm working on planning the outtakes/extras thing for this fic, and while I've got a bunch of things I want to add (half being a bunch of scenes/stuff from other character's POVs + others just baking and domestic fluff shit) but if you have any specific requests, let me know and I'll probably add it to the list.

And once again, thank you all so much for the reviews/faves/follows on this fic. I smile every time I see one of those things.

PS. If during the next month or so, updates slow down it's probably because I'm spending less time at my computer bc I'm trying not to die of heatstroke as it's summer here and my room, where my computer lives, gets hot as hell so I have to vacate it (Ah, summer).

and at that one anon reviewer - seriously appreciate seeing your comments on the fic. I can't reply to those personally, but your comments are so sweet. :)


	10. Chapter 10

To: nromanov

From: director

Subject: Security

Date: April 27 2015

Romanov,

Tell me the Captain is secure.

N. Fury

Director of S.H.I.E.L.D

/

To: director

From: nromanov

Subject: RE: Security

Date: April 27 2015

He's safe. Don't go looking.

N. Romanov

Special Agent

/

Steve woke up with one hell of a headache.

"On your left," Sam said, and smiled when Steve turned to look at him.

"Hey," Steve replied, surprised he didn't sound too terrible. "What happened?"

"You got hit during the fight – but don't worry. This is one of Natasha's super secret places."

"How long have I been out?" Steve asked uncomfortably. It reminded him too much of being that small, sickly person again. More than once, he'd gone to sleep at night, or even just plain blacked out, only to wake up in a hospital where a nurse would look at him with pity and tell him everything that was wrong and how much time he'd missed.

"Most of the day, I think," Sam said. "It's already five."

"You've been here the whole time?"

"I got here an hour ago," Sam replied. "Had to jump through a hell of a lot of hoops to get here. I'm sort of impressed."

"I hope it wasn't too much trouble."

"It wasn't," Sam said, not unkindly.

"How is everyone else?" Steve asked, hoping to deflect the topic of conversation. He'd already spent enough time in his life making that kind of hospital talk. Besides, apart from the headache, he felt fine.

"They're good. Wanda's fine too."

"Oh, good," Steve said, remembering the way Scarlet Witch – _Wanda_ _–_ had so suddenly collapsed when confronted with Machinesmith right before he'd been hit himself. "Any idea of what happened?"

"Something to do with his mind – she'd gotten a read on it, and seen too much too fast. She's not even dizzy now."

"What happened to Machinesmith?" Steve asked.

"Natasha overloaded him," Sam said. "Man, it was awesome – I flew her in, Bu—Barton had a few flash arrows and the Winter Solider threw in a grenade. It was kind of amazing. S.H.I.E.L.D cleaned it all up."

"Wow, wish I could've seen that," Steve said, and then shook his head. "God, it's so weird to hear their names. Doesn't feel quite right."

"Maybe you should've told them yours," Sam said carefully. Steve could tell Sam was about to start on something and braced himself for it.

"You know why I can't," Steve said, an edge of panic creeping in at the thought. He couldn't help it – it was pure instinct now to feel unsettled at people knowing his full identity. Telling Sam had been a leap enough, and even now, it still often felt weird that someone could know him that well.

"Yeah, but Stark did have a point," Sam said. "If we're keeping secrets, we're not trusting each other. And to work as a team, we need to trust each other."

"They don't need to know my name to have my back in a fight."

Sam shook his head. "It's not only about that – if we're going to work as well as Fury wants us to, we can't be constantly looking over our shoulders."

"I just don't want anyone to get hurt. The SSR was torn apart so people could try and get to me – more than one good agent died."

"This isn't the same thing," Sam said. "These people have been in the same boat as you too, Steve. Maybe not as high-stakes, but they know what it's like."

Steve sighed. "Telling you was enough of a risk."

"But you did, and look how well that turned out," Sam pointed out.

"I didn't have any other choice," Steve replied. He'd only turned to Sam because he'd been desperate, and Sam's skills with the wings had been necessary.

"You did," Sam said. "You didn't have to tell me who you were, but you did, and I think you need to do the same with the Avengers. Trust the, like they're trusting you."

Logically, Steve knew Sam had a point. But thinking about telling anyone else the truth was so unsettling. He'd had secrecy drilled into him so absolutely that he had no idea if he could really do it.

"I'll try," Steve promised.

Sam nodded. "Good," he replied. "It's a lot easier than you think, and probably better that you tell Stark, rather than pushing him to try and find out himself."

Steve laughed weakly. "Yeah, that's an idea."

Suddenly, Sam's phone buzzed. "Oh, shit, I need to get going," Sam said apologetically. "VA crisis."

"Go," Steve said. "Don't worry about me."

"I always worry about you, Cap," Sam replied with a laugh as he left.

/

The apartment was empty when Bucky got home, which suited him just fine. Steve must've still been out on whatever job he had, so Bucky figured he'd have some time to himself. He flopped down on the couch, still half-dressed in his uniform, the rest of it bagged up at his feet. He'd gotten into the habit of stashing a few environmental bags into his uniform pockets as to avoid anyone paying attention to him when he was walking back into his building. Sure, he could probably just sneak back in, but he figured it was better if he'd looked a lot less conspicuous getting home if he had a bunch of bags with him. As it turned out, New Yorkers wouldn't even look at you twice if you were wandering down the street with several shopping bags.

He turned on the television, flicking through the news coverage of the Machinesmith incident. Once again, all they really had was shaky footage and that one lucky cameraman who'd managed to get nearby when they'd been leaving the scene. There was some speculation as to why Captain America hadn't been seen on the ground at first sight, some wondering if he'd been critically injured or killed, which reminded Bucky to text Sam for an update on the Captain's condition.

He went and grabbed his phone, shooting off a quick text to Sam ( _How's he doing?_ ) before picking up the rest of his stuff and hid it in his room again. He'd learned to be extremely careful when putting away his hero stuff, especially the weaponry – not making it too obvious that something was hidden, but also being careful not to put it in plain sight lest Steve go in here (though Bucky knew that was extremely unlikely, which was sort of disappointing, if he thought about it).

Bucky collapsed back down on the couch, the about the day's events running through his mind. The whole thing had been a sort of whirlwind, and he was still trying to process it, though what really bothered him was the argument that'd happened in the Avengers meeting after Stark had opened his mouth.

He really didn't like the idea of telling them who he was. It just didn't feel important. They already knew he could do his job, and Bucky didn't need to prove himself to anyone. The way he saw it, he only needed show up, do the job, and be done with it. That was all that mattered. It wasn't like they were soldiers, stuck together for months at a time in the one place. They all had separate lives that only needed to intersect when the world was at stake. Names didn't matter.

But he had told Sam who he was. _That's different_ , he told himself. _Sam needed to know, or he wasn't going to quit_.

He hadn't wanted to tell Stark shit. His business was his own, and he didn't trust Stark not to get too curious. Sure, S.H.I.E.L.D was already very aware of who he was, but they weren't going to reveal that information anytime soon – how would it look, announcing a POW soldier had become a brainwashed assassin? It was better if people thought the Winter Soldier and James Barnes were different people.

But then the rest of them had given up their names freely, all except Captain America, who very vocally told Stark how bad he thought the idea was. Bucky was more than inclined to agree. He then started to wonder if Sam knew who Captain America was. It was possible – after all, Falcon and Captain America had been a team before the Avengers were thrown together.

Bucky's phone buzzed. _Cap's good. Stubborn as ever, but he'll be fine_ , Sam had texted back.

Distantly, Bucky heard Thor's apartment door open and heard the man himself walk in – Thor had a heavy, distinctive step, unlike Steve, who seemed to be almost as good as Bucky at going around quietly (though maybe even more so, as the man wasn't exactly small but still moved like someone half his size).

He wondered if he should go over there for a moment, and then decided to bite the bullet and do it. Thor didn't exactly look like he had many friends, and Bucky figured a little kindness couldn't hurt. _God, I'm turning into Steve,_ he thought as he rummaged around for a clean set of clothing as well as his flesh sleeve. He'd foregone it today, since he'd left the apartment dressed in his gear (of course after checking Steve was sound asleep and ducking out the window and into the fire escape for good measure for good measure).

Thor seemed pretty happy when Bucky knocked on the door.

"Hello, friend," Thor said. "What brings you here?"

"Just wanted to see if you're free to hang out," Bucky said. "Steve isn't home, and I'm all out of things to clean."

"Of course," Thor replied. "Come in."

"Thanks, pal," Bucky said, and walked into Thor's apartment. It was a surprisingly nice setup for a S.H.I.E.L.D place, though maybe that was the point. Absently, he wondered where the cameras were.

"How have you been?" Thor asked.

"I've been better – rough day at work. What about you? Getting used to New York?"

Thor shook his head. "It's a strange place," he replied. "Sometimes I feel as if I don't quite belong here."

"I get it," Bucky said. "I used to serve – New York almost didn't feel right when I got home."

"You were a soldier?" Thor asked, genuinely curious.

"Yeah," Bucky replied. "I was."

"Not anymore?"

"Not really," Bucky said lightly. It was about as close to the truth as he'd get as himself. "I do the same sort of work, in a sense, but it's not the same as being on a battle field pretty much 24/7."

Thor looked at him intently. Bucky wondered if he'd said too much.

"You're different to most people," Thor said. "Like Natasha."

Bucky gave Thor a wry smile. "True enough," he replied. "We've had similar life experience."

Thor looked like he wanted to , but didn't comment. No doubt by now he was very familiar with Natasha and her particular skills, but he probably wasn't familiar with exactly how she acquired most of them. If he had, maybe he'd have been able to put two and two together.

"Do you wish for any coffee?" Thor asked.

"I'm good," Bucky said. "If I have any now, I don't think I'll sleep."

Thor nodded, and moved to the kitchen, presumably to make himself a cup. Bucky took Thor's absence to scan the room for cameras. He spotted one on a set of shelves, another by the door, and one creatively hidden on the windowsill. Bucky wasn't at all impressed; he could've picked at least ten better places to put them. Clearly, S.H.I. needed to work on their planting skills. Or maybe obvious was the point here.

Eventually, Thor wandered back in the room, an enormous mug of coffee in his hand. Thor smiled. "There are many strange things about this place, though coffee is the most wondrous."

Bucky raised his eyebrows. "You don't have coffee where you're from?"

"No," Thor said, a little sadly.

"You miss it?"

"All the time," Thor replied. "It was home."

"Tell me about it," Bucky said.

Thor's eyes lit up as he described Asgard, talking in detail about everything he liked about home. Bucky listened quietly, soaking up the details about this alien place. He'd always had a fascination with science fiction, especially space exploration, and this was incredibly thrilling. He wanted to ask more intrusive questions, to know more about whatever differences there were between Asgard and Earth, but that would require revealing his identity. Also, Thor was deliberately vague enough that he could be talking about some other city, not a whole other world.

"Sounds like an interesting place," Bucky commented when Thor paused, looking slightly teary.

"It is," Thor replied, voice a little rough. "Though New York itself is a wholly wonderful place."

Bucky laughed. "It can be," he said. "I'm not sure where else I'd want to live. I've seen other cities, but there's just something about here that makes glad I stayed."

"I have enjoyed this place, though I do not yet know it well."

"You will," Bucky promised. "She's got a hell of a charm once you get to know her."

"I look forward to it."

/

After spending all day in bed, Steve felt a hell of a lot better than he had when he'd first woken up. The headache was gone, and the rest of his body felt perfectly fine. Of course, the downside to this was that he now felt incredibly antsy. He wanted to leave – being in a hospital setting for so long was starting to make him anxious. There were too many bad memories about a place like this and he wanted to get back home, somewhere away from where, wherever the hell he was.

Eventually, a nurse came around, and he talked her into letting him leave, though she'd told him he was technically scheduled to leave tomorrow morning. She handed him his bag of uniform, which was wrapped up tightly, and told him to get dressed and leave through the back door.

"Turn left down the corridor and then it's the door the right. We're in Williamsburg here," she said with a smile before leaving to attend to whatever other strange patients she'd had in here.

Despite his discomfort, Steve was incredibly thankful for whatever or whoever had set this place up. Nobody here had commented on his identity, or even hinted they had any idea who he was. They just dealt with him and let him heal, only asking questions to catalogue exactly what was going on with him. They weren't at all surprised by his healing abilities, and he assumed someone, most likely Sam, must've briefed them on that when he'd been bought in. He made a mental note to thank Natasha for putting him up here the next time he saw her.

Once dressed, Steve realised he'd need to think carefully about how he got home. Dressed in his uniform, he was quite a beacon. So, a serious amount of stealth would be required to get back, especially if Bucky was home, though he hoped his roommate wasn't. After all, Bucky was out a job and he'd said it'd be gone until late, so Steve hoped that meant he was still out. The clock on the wall said it was only nine pm, so there was a chance Steve would get home to an empty house. If not, he'd probably have to improvise.

Getting out of the building was a sort of experience. It looked like a hospital, but there were subtle things about it that made it different. There were regular rooms like his, but others had heavy-duty locks on them, one with weirdly scribbled markings and another that was boarded up and a 'Do not enter' sign stuck to the plywood. The sounds too, were also unsettling. Though the place was mostly quiet, there was the odd hiss, and other strangely animalistic sounds that came from behind the doors.

Outside, the building looked entirely anonymous. There was no hint there was some sort of strange hospital inside. It made him wonder what kind of connections Natasha had to find a place like this.

Mindful of how inconspicuous he looked, Steve made quick time in getting the hell out of there, using his metal map of New York to get him home (it was a perk of the serum – his memory was essentially photographic now, which was incredibly useful). He was wary of being followed, making sure he took a longer route and purposefully took a few wrong turns.

Thankfully, the streets were mostly empty, and nobody really looked his way. He was grateful for it, though he did wish he'd had the foresight to ask Sam to bring some spare clothes with him so he could've snuck out less conspicuously. Sure, people watched him when he was just plain old Steve Rogers, but it was generally nothing like the looks he got when he was Captain America.

Once he got back to his street, Steve moved carefully and did his best to check for anyone looking out the windows, or seeing if Bucky was in there. Steve's apartment was on a corner, and had excellent window space, which meant he could see that all the lights were definitely off inside. Bucky must've been asleep already, or not home yet.

He checked over his shoulder a few times before making his way up the fire escape and opening his bedroom window carefully. He'd had it adjusted so it could be opened from the outside if he jiggled the frame just so.

Steve moved inside quickly, wincing as he made a slightly loud _thud_ when he landed inside. Hopefully Bucky was still asleep – his roommate was a generally heavy sleeper, though if there were a loud enough noise he'd wake up like he'd never been asleep in the first place. Steve made a mental note to apologise later if Bucky commented on it.

But then the door to his room opened and Steve froze in place.

/

It was late by the time Bucky got home from Thor's. They'd spent an incredibly long time talking, even ending up ordering in Pizza from Bucky's favourite place, which Thor had enjoyed with gusto. He decided it'd been a great decision to talk to Thor – he'd really enjoyed being able to talk to him, especially about Asgard. Thor might have had a strange way of talking, but he was also a pretty smart guy despite the fact he was pretty clueless about Earth. Bucky didn't blame him – as much as he could tell, Asgard must've had radically different technology, and he was dying to ask how different it was, but he'd had to hold back. One day, he vowed, he'd try and ask about it as the Winter Soldier.

He didn't bother turning on the lights when he got in, deciding to head straight to bed. But as he moved through the lounge, Bucky heard a strange thud that came from the direction of Steve's room and he was instantly alert.

Before he knew what he was doing, Bucky was creeping towards Steve's room, picking up a knife he'd stashed behind the bookshelf on the way. He hesitantly opened the door, and once he saw a figure inside, frozen in place, he attacked without thinking.

The intruder responded lighting fast, though Bucky was just as fast, if not faster and was just about to pin them to the wall, when they spoke.

"Hey – Buck – no it's just me," a familiar voice said.

Bucky froze and dropped the knife, letting it clatter to the floor as he took a good look at the intruder.

"Steve?"

* * *

A/N: Anyway, next chapter should hopefully be out sometime this week, though if not, this chapter will be my last update for the year. I'll try but I've got a holiday coming up and with Christmas stuff going on I may not get to it. I'll definitely try, though. Should be able to do it, though there's A Lot of emotions in the next chapter and it may take me a while.

Also this is now officially the longest thing I've ever written (surpassing that one Host fanfic I've been working on for like, two years now too) so like, holy shit. That's a lot of words. And I've also decided this is most likely going to be 17 chapters, as opposed to the original 15 I had planned. There's a lot more story to tell and I think I need more than five more chapters to tell it in.

And as always, thanks so much for the reviews/faves/attention you're all giving this fic. It's absolutely lovely.

Find me on tumblr as bluesargently


	11. Chapter 11

**_Nat_** _(03:52:38): Cap is on the move._

/

 ** _Clint_** _(03:53:09): Are we going to have to follow him again?_

/

Bucky felt like the world had been pulled out from under his feet. Everything felt distant and out of reach except for one singular fact that wouldn't stop running around in his mind:

Steve was Captain America.

Steve Rogers. _Captain America._ Not two different people, but one person. It didn't make sense. It made perfect sense.

 _What the fuck_ , he thought.

"Are…are you okay?" Steve asked. _Captain America_ asked.

Bucky shook his head.

"I didn't know how to tell you," Steve said. "I didn't think it was safe."

"You…" Bucky said weakly. Words were failing him all at once. He shook his head again, trying to think around the revelation.

"I'm still me," Steve said. "I thought keeping this a secret was better – there's too many people out there who would hurt you, or anyone else I know if they knew who I was."

Bucky couldn't stop shaking his head. This wasn't happening. This shouldn't be happening.

"I didn't ask to be like this - hell, I was probably going to die before I took the offer to—"

Bucky stopped being able to listen as Steve kept talking. A few details stuck out – Steve nearly dying, joining the SSR, the Red Skull attack – but the rest of it was mush.

"—And then you moved in," Steve finished, and then sagged in relief.

For a long moment, they just started at each other, Steve looking worried, and Bucky gaping like an idiot.

Eventually, he did speak. "I need a minute," he said, and walked out of the room.

He didn't come back.

/

Sam hadn't said anything when Steve showed up at his house at almost four in the morning. Instead, he'd just opened the door and made up a bed on the couch for him before falling back asleep.

It'd been three days what Steve had started thinking of as The Incident. He could picture it with perfect clarity – the shell-shocked look on Bucky's face once he'd realised it was _Steve_ standing there, the strange relief at having confessed everything, and finally the sound of Bucky's footsteps as he'd left the room and hadn't come back. Steve had waited for a while, but after it was clear Bucky wasn't coming back in, Steve had packed up a bag and high-tailed it to Sam's, leaving behind a hastily written _sorry, I'll be at Sam's for a while_ on the counter. He figured it was probably best to give Bucky some space to process it all.

He hadn't done much since then, mostly just wandering Sam's apartment and feeling some incredible embarrassment at how the whole thing had gone down. In an ideal world, he may never have told Bucky, or maybe after a few years of careful trust-building and complete assurance that his roommate wouldn't sell him out. Either way, he hadn't expected it to go like _that._

Currently, Steve was on Sam's couch again, watching the news as he ate breakfast. Sam eventually wandered in, moving deliberately towards Steve once he'd spotted him and sat down on the couch. Steve braced himself for whatever Sam was going to say.

"You should've waited longer," Sam said.

Steve looked up, surprised. "What?"

"You should've waited for Barnes to come back. Talked to him," Sam repeated.

Steve shook his head. "I had to get out of there. You didn't see the look on his face. He hated me."

Sam shook his head. "I really don't think that's the case."

"He made it pretty clear what he thought when he walked out."

"He's still there," Sam said.

"How do you know?"

Sam shrugged. "We text," he replied.

"What? When?"

Sam shrugged. "Long story," he said. "Ask Bucky."

Steve shook his head.

Sam sighed. "You really should've waited," he said.

"I tried," Steve said miserably. "But he just left."

"So did you," Sam pointed out.

"I thought I'd give him space."

"It's your apartment too."

Steve knew Sam probably had a point, but every time he tried to think about it, he kept coming back to that awful look on Bucky's face before he'd left the room. He looked like he'd been told someone died.

So, no matter what Sam said, Steve didn't want to call. If Bucky wanted to see him again, then he'd call. Otherwise, Steve was staying here until further notice. It just didn't seem worth the potential confrontation. Momentarily, Steve wondered if S.H.I.E.L.D had some sort of mind-wiping technology he could 'borrow' and make Bucky forget all about it.

"I can't go back there," Steve said weakly.

"Are you going to move out?" Sam asked.

Steve sighed. "I don't know," he said. "I guess I'm just waiting for this to blow over."

"Well, you're welcome to stay here, of course, but don't put off talking to him," Sam said. "You might be surprised by what he has to say."

"I doubt that," Steve replied.

Sam looked like he was trying very hard not to roll his eyes. "If you say so."

/

As the days passed, Bucky felt more and more like an idiot. How had he missed something so big? _Steve_ was Captain America. Steve, who stayed up too late with commissions and had endless patience and baked cookies for neighbours just because they looked sad; Steve, who had fought alongside him that whole time, while Bucky had thought he was helpless. Steve had saved his life. Bucky had saved his. Granted, he already thought he was doing the latter, just not in such a direct capacity.

How the _fuck_ had he not noticed this? Now that he'd had time, it seemed so painfully obvious now. All those times Steve had a 'work emergency' or was conveniently out of the apartment just as a crisis was happening – not to mention his friendship with Sam who had talked about trusting Steve with his identity was no big deal. There were so many moments, so many clues that should've tipped him off. He was once a fucking master assassin and spy. He should've seen it coming.

But he hadn't – he'd just brushed it all off and let himself believe Steve was just an ordinary person, incapable of knowing the struggles of a hero. Then when Steve told him the truth, he'd just stood there and hadn't even tried to be honest.

And now Steve was gone. He'd left even before Bucky would think of some reasonable response beyond gaping – he'd only left the room so he could clear his head for a moment, but that moment suddenly turned into an hour and by the time he was ready, Steve had vanished, a single note left on the counter. He tried not to be disappointed, but it was hard not to be.

Bucky had tired to keep himself in the past few days, but all he'd really ended up doing was sitting on the couch and watching too many episodes of _Hero Watch_. He hadn't even bothered with the police scanners – it felt too weird, and the risk of running into Captain America was probably too great – he didn't want to have to pretend everything was fine. Thankfully, New York hadn't had a single crisis in the past few days, so he didn't feel too terrible at his lack of action.

Sam had texted him a few times, though, but Bucky had mostly avoided those, only letting his friend know he was still at the apartment and _totally fine_. There were also a few calls, but Bucky had flat-out ignored those. It was harder to lie when the other person could hear your voice.

At around the fifteenth episode of _Hero Watch_ and the eighth ignored text from Sam, an insistent knock on the door made him get up off the couch for what felt like the first time in days.

He opened the door, not caring about how absolutely terrible he probably looked, to find Thor standing there with a Tupperware box in his hands.

"Hello friend," Thor said. "I apologise for my intrusion, but I noticed your lover's absence so I have bought you cookies."

Bucky just blinked at him. _Lover?_ He thought. "Uh, thanks," he said and took the box from Thor. Inside, the cookies were slightly burnt, but the sentiment behind them made Bucky want to tear up.

"If you need an ear to listen, I will lend you mine," Thor said, unusually soft.

"Steve left," Bucky said after a long moment. "I don't know if he'll be back."

"What happened?" Thor asked.

"We – we had a fight," Bucky said. He wasn't sure about telling Thor the truth exactly. Steve might've left, but Bucky would still keep his secret. It was the least he could do.

"Could it not be resolved?" Thor asked.

Bucky shook his head. "He, uh, told me something, and I may have reacted badly. It's my fault."

"Have you tried calling?" Thor asked with a concerned frown.

"I don't know if he'd want to hear what I have to say," Bucky said with a shake of his head. He had thought about it, but the moment he even got close to the phone a horrible sense of guilt came over him and he didn't do it.

"He might—" Thor began, but was cut off by a horrible scream from outside. They both ran over to the window, where they saw a sandstorm outside. It moved rapidly in, people running and screaming.

"What the fuck," Bucky said, as the sand storm converged into a body. _That's new_ , he thought.

"I should leave," Thor said, anxiously eyeing the sandstorm outside. He shot Bucky an apologetic look, and moved towards the door.

For a moment, Bucky thought about letting Thor leave and sneaking out later to fight. But.

Did he want to keep doing that?

"Wait," Bucky said, and Thor turned around. "I'm going with you."

"But—"

Bucky removed the flesh sleeve from his left arm.

Bucky pulled the 'skin' off his left arm.

"You…you're the Soldier of Winter?" he asked, looking a little surprised.

"That's me," he said.

Thor nodded. "Then, Soldier, let us fight."

/

It probably said a lot about Steve's life that he wasn't at all surprised when a sandstorm showed up in Brooklyn. Even less so when it turned out to be a human – or, well at least human-shaped.

"How the fuck are we going to deal with that?" Sam asked as they flew in.

"Not sure yet," Steve replied. "But I'll give it a shot."

"Looks like someone's already there," Sam commented.

"Any idea who?" Steve asked.

"Looks like the Winter Soldier and Thor," Sam said with some surprise.

Steve looked over and sure enough, Thor and the Winter Soldier were there, fighting along side each other. The Soldier threw grenades, and Thor used his hammer, smashing into the storm. None of it seemed to be working that well, though the odd grenade managed to disperse it for a moment.

"Hello Captain, Falcon," Thor said.

"You know who this is?"

Thor shook his head. "This is not an enemy I've faced before. The Soldier of Winter is assisting me."

"Doesn't look like much is happening," Sam commented, as he fired off a couple of shots.

"It's a slow fight," Thor replied. "The Soldier is of great use."

Steve looked over to see the Winter Solider toss a grenade at the sandstorm. That only seemed to further agitate whatever it was and it threw a blast of sand at the Soldier, who stumbled back and dropped his gun. Steve's stomach lurched as the sandstorm started to converge on the Solider.

"Hey!" Steve called out, and the sandstorm turned its attention from the Solider. Steve wasn't sure what the hell he was expecting to do, but he dove into action anyway, throwing his shield towards it as it gathered into a human form. The shield sliced right through, though the sandstorm (sand creature?) reformed in a matter of moments.

Steve swore. This wasn't what he was used to dealing with – there was usually a far more tangible enemy to fight. Thor and Falcon didn't seem to be having much luck either – both their weapons went mostly unnoticed by the sandstorm.

Steve ran over to his shield and grabbed it again, trying to slice at the sandstorm.

"Has anyone ever told you you're an idiot?" the Winter Soldier said as he moved in beside Steve, throwing another grenade into the storm.

"A few times," Steve replied as he lifted his shield to protect himself from the blast.

"Then why don't you listen?"

Steve ignored that. "Do you think if Thor hit it with lighting, it'd turn to glass?" he asked.

The Soldier regarded Steve carefully. Steve felt slightly awkward under the scrutiny, but then the Soldier nodded. "It's worth a shot," he replied, and the turned to Thor. "Hey! Thor – blast it!"

Thor seemed to get the message, and the sky above them darkened and thunder began to rumble. Soon enough, lighting crackled in the sky, and a giant bolt of it hit the sandstorm – now in its humanoid form - and it crystallised. Steve had expected some kind of sound from the sandstorm, but the blast had been so fast that its body was nothing but glass.

The Winter Solider shot at it. The glass shattered and the shards fell to the street like snow. For a moment, they both stood there, watching the sight.

"Well, I'm glad that's over," Steve said conversationally.

"I'm pretty sure I still have sand everywhere," the Solider grumbled.

"That's your own fault for throwing all those grenades," Sam replied as he landed. The Winter Solider shot him a dirty look.

"Well fought, my friends," Thor said as he flew in.

"Your lighting did it all," Steve replied.

Thor smiled. "It is the least I can do," he said.

For a moment, Steve was about to let the conversation end there, and go back to Sam's place and continue burying his head in the sand. But. He was bored, and frankly kind of lonely, and these people were sort of his friends now, right? So, instead he said: "Hey, we should all go out and celebrate. Hang out so we don't always have to meet on the battlefield."

Thor smiled enthusiastically. "Yes, let us celebrate," he said excitedly.

"Sure, why not," Sam said with a shrug.

The Winter Solider didn't say anything for a moment, and Steve thought he was going to reject the idea, but then, "Sure," he said with a shrug. "Give me a place, and I'll see you there."

Steve tried to hide his surprise. Sam looked pretty pleased, as did Thor.

"Stan's, in an hour," Sam said.

"I'll see you there," the Solider said before disappearing. Steve couldn't help his smile.

/

Internally, Bucky was freaking out. Was he going to do this?

He stared at himself in the mirror, trying to discern some kind of answer. Sure, he'd already agreed to go, but now doubt was starting to creep in and avoidance was starting to look really good.

Suddenly, his phone buzzed and Bucky saw a text from Sam.

 _Are you actually going to get here?_ He'd written.

Bucky took a long moment to respond. _I'll be there_ , he replied.

 _Good, because we're waiting for your ass_ , Sam texted back almost instantly.

Bucky gave himself one more look in the mirror and looked at his left arm. After a moment, he decisively pulled off the skin sleeve.

He was going to do this.

 _About damn time_ , a voice that sounded eerily like Sam's whispered in his mind.

/

Steve tried not to feel too disappointed when he didn't see the Winter Solider already there at the bar. But then again, would he even know if the man himself was there? He liked to think he would, to just see him and _know_.

"Stop looking so sad," Sam commented when they sat down. "He'll be here."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"He gave his word," Thor said.

"I'll go get a drink," Steve said and walked back up to the bar to order. He scanned the board and eventually settled on a craft beer.

"Hey," someone said from behind him.

Steve nearly spilled his beer when he saw who it was. "Bucky?" he asked. "What are you doing here?"

"You invited me," Bucky said, a faint smile on his face.

Steve frowned. Had Sam stolen his phone at some point? "I…did I?" he asked, sure the answer was no.

Bucky laughed. It was a lovely gesture, reminding Steve of how _good_ Bucky looked when he wasn't in shock. "Christ you're so dense, Stevie," he said, and then rolled up the left sleeve of his shirt, revealing a metallic arm.

Steve stared at it blankly.

 _What the fuck_ , he thought.

"Now you get it," Bucky said.

"You – you're…. oh my god," Steve said, unable to finish the thought. It was too impossible.

There was no way _Bucky_ was the Winter Soldier.

But.

There Bucky was, standing there with one metallic arm. An arm Steve had been sure was entirely flesh this morning. He hadn't even considered the possibility it could ever be anything else.

"That's me," Bucky said, and then softer, "are you okay?"

"I," Steve said, then let out a sigh and ran a hand through his hair, spiking it up. "It's a lot to take in."

Bucky laughed dryly. "Now you know how I felt."

"You – oh my god," Steve said, the realisation hitting him all over again.

"Yeah, now let's go sit down before you fall over," Bucky said and put an arm around Steve's shoulders and steered him towards where Sam and Thor were sitting.

"Hey, Bucky," Sam said with a smile. "Glad to see you're here."

The look Steve shot him was utterly betrayed. "How did you know?" he asked.

"Battle of New York," Sam replied.

"I knew, also," Thor added.

"Did everyone know this?" Steve asked. Was this all one big joke to Bucky?

"I only told Thor today," Bucky explained. "Figured it was about time I started to trust people."

"I can't believe it," Steve said, shaking is head. "We live together."

"How do you think I felt? I'm supposed to be a spy," Bucky replied. "And I find out on accident."

"Why didn't you say anything before?" Steve asked, genuinely curious.

"I was a little in shock," Bucky said. "Then you upped and left."

"Yeah, sorry," Steve said.

Bucky smiled. "It's alright," he said. "I get it."

"No, I'm so sorry," Steve said seriously, "I should've waited."

"I told you," Sam said pointedly.

Steve rolled his eyes. "Well, you're right," he replied, figuring it was better to get that over with than let Sam gloat.

"Don't worry about it," Bucky said. "We're here now."

Steve gave him a small smile. "That we are."

* * *

A/N: It's very much a Christmas miracle that I got this up. It's been a weird couple of days - I got sick, life happened, and then I decided now was a fantastic time to buy Sims 4. But whatever, it's here now. They know! Finally.

Also, fun fact the villain in this chapter was once again a marvel villain I've warped for my own purposes - this time, it was Quicksand (who is one of Thor's villains) and if any of you have seen The Flash, I was sort of inspired by that one episode to finish it like that. Which is probably better than the 'giant plant' idea I started with.

So, this is 100% the last update of the year, and I'll be back early January with the next update. I really won't have time to get much done between now and the New Year because I'll be computer-less during my holiday and I don't hate myself enough to attempt to type it all out on a phone.

Once again, thanks so much for the reviews/faves/etc. I appreciate it all so much.

Find me on tumblr over at bluesargently


	12. Chapter 12

**_Noel_** _(10:11:21): A closing in. Shut it down._

/

 ** _Harker_** _(10:53:36): We're clear._ _Lockdown procedures initiated._

/

Bucky hadn't known exactly what to expect once Steve finally knew the truth, but he couldn't exactly complain about it now. There was a certain kind of levity to their interactions now, like a weight had been lifted off both their shoulders. No longer did he have to hide around Steve. He was absolutely free to be himself.

He wished he'd said something sooner. Bucky had wasted so much time trying to sneak around in his own goddamn apartment. Now, he could actually relax once he got back, and not worry so much about hiding everything about his hero life.

Another perk was also the addition of hero stories they swapped over dinner.

"I cannot believe you did that," Bucky said, laughing as he wiped tears from his eyes.

Steve blushed. "Well, I was new the whole thing - I didn't know what I was doing."

"You could've not worn your costume underneath your clothes. You're not some comic character."

"I was, actually," Steve replied.

Bucky looked at him. "No."

"Yes," Steve replied. "I was – Adventures of Captain America, they called it. Handed them out for military people to send home to their kids."

"I need to find them."

"You really don't," Steve replied. "They were horrible. I'm pretty sure there was one that had me go back in time and punch Hitler in the face."

Bucky laughed even harder. "Oh my god," he said.

"It was all about morale," Steve said. "But clearly whoever the hell was writing them had no idea how to tell a decent story."

"And then you just had to become a hero for real," Bucky said. "Show 'em how it was done."

Steve laughed, and then shook his head. "I wasn't even thinking about those comics when I got out there. I just wanted to do the right thing."

He gave Steve a wry smile. "You're too good," he said.

"I'm really not," Steve replied with a shrug.

Bucky rolled his eyes, and was about to comment further when his phone buzzed. He picked it up, unsure of who to expect to have messaged him. "Its Nat. There's another meeting."

"Oh," Steve said. "Avengers?"

"Yep," Bucky replied. "We're meeting at the same place again."

"Ah, do you want me to leave after you?" Steve asked.

"What?"

"You arrived alone last time," Steve said. "Do you want them to know we're hanging out?"

"Nah, come with me. I figure we should probably tell them who we are," Bucky replied. "I mean, pretty much everyone but Stark, Banner and the Maximoffs know."

"I'm pretty sure Wanda and Pietro already did," Steve replied. "I'm pretty sure Wanda can read minds. Though I don't think S.H.I.E.L.D knows who I am yet."

"I forgot they didn't know you. Though I think if anyone knows, Nat probably does. Maybe even Clint, but I don't think either of the would say anything."

Steve shook his head. "I don't think so. All the documents with name on were blacked out and classified to the max pretty much as soon as I'd signed them."

"No shit?"

"Yeah," Steve said, like it was no big deal. "Then a lot of stuff was destroyed after the SSR went down. People were smart."

"There's that, but I'm pretty sure she knows anyway. That's just Natasha."

"So you really do know her well?" Steve asked.

"Yeah," Bucky replied. "Not childhood friends, though. She was the one who bought me in."

"Bought you in?" Steve asked with a frown.

"Back when I was Hydra's," Bucky said bluntly, and Steve's eyes widened in recognition. "She's kind of the reason why I'm a human being again."

"Oh," Steve said. "I didn't mean to pry."

"It's cool. I'll tell you the full story sometime," Bucky said. "You should probably know."

"You don't have—" Steve began.

Bucky cut him off. "No, you should. Besides, I want to tell you," he said. Steve seemed like a good enough person, and Bucky trusted that his roommate wouldn't run screaming from whatever shit Bucky would tell him. What Steve had already told him about his own heroic exploits, the man had already seen some serious shit too. Probably not exactly the name brand of fucked up as Bucky's experiences, but he figured Steve would get it anyway.

Besides, he trusted Steve now. He wouldn't run screaming from this.

Steve smiled at him. "Whenever you're ready, I'm here," he said and clapped Bucky on his right shoulder. "I should get changed."

Bucky felt a little stunned as he watched Steve walk away. It was completely unfair how wonderful his roommate was – what the fuck did Bucky do to deserve someone like him?

/

The atmosphere at the second official Avengers meeting was decidedly tense. Steve felt a little bad about the way he'd left it last time, especially now that he'd rethought his position on the matter. Sam's advice had stuck, and it had worked out so well with Bucky anyway so maybe he should take this chance with the rest of his team too. However, that didn't mean he was just going to let S.H.I.E.L.D know this information too. His identity wasn't going to be something he'd just give up to the government again. The less they knew about him, the safer they all were.

"Are you two ganging up on us now?" Tony asked when Steve and Bucky walked in together.

Steve rolled his eyes, but made no other response. It wasn't worth trying to bait Stark, no matter how much he wanted to. Bucky, however, provided a wonderfully chilling glare that made Tony go quiet.

Fury walked in a moment later, eyes scanning across the room. "Avengers," he said by way of greeting.

"What's it this time?" Stark asked. "Any more robot men you want us to fight?"

"It's Hydra," Fury replied flatly. "S.H.I.E.L.D has located a major Hydra base in Germany and we need you to clear it out."

"You want us to kill people?" Bucky asked, a sharp edge to his voice.

"Murder doesn't look good. Take them in, if you can," Fury said. "They could be useful."

Bucky still looked wary, though he didn't voice any more complaints.

"When are we leaving?" Steve asked.

"You're leaving tomorrow morning," Fury replied. "If we leave it any longer, we lose our window of opportunity and they run. So whatever shit you need to sort out between now and then, do it and report back to us."

For a moment, Steve felt a flash of anxiety at how he'd explain such a disappearance to Bucky, but then he remembered Bucky _knew_ (and was a part of this, to boot) and felt a wave of relief.

 _I could get used to this_ , he thought.

/

The Hydra base was everything and nothing like Bucky expected. He'd tried to prepare himself for whatever would be in there, but from the moment they'd arrived he felt entirely unsettled. The base itself looked innocuous at first glance, but as he moved deeper in, everything started to look more and more familiar.

The hallways were the same sickly shade of green as he remembered, and there was medical equipment all over the place. Some of it he recognised. One room he walked into looked so much like the one they'd used to wipe his memories he'd nearly frozen. Only the buzz of his comms managed to pull him back from a full-blown attack.

"—Soldier, what's your status?" Iron Man called through the comms.

"In the third basement floor," Bucky replied, trying to hide how unsettled he felt. "Nobody here yet."

"Let me know if that changes," Iron Man replied. "Actually, wait, don't. We've got company."

There was a high-pitched sound and then a buzz of static that dissipated into silence as Iron Man terminated the connection. Bucky swore. Clearly it wasn't going well up there. But whatever; Bucky already had things to do down here, in these basement levels.

It was almost strange at how silent it was down here, though Bucky figured it was probably because Hydra was smart enough to relocate their important personnel as soon as shit started to hit the fan.

Suddenly, there was a flash of silver out of the corner of his eye and Pietro Maximoff was standing there.

"You kill them?" he asked.

Bucky shook his head. "Nobody was in here," he said, deliberately fixing his eyes on Pietro to keep himself from looking at the chair.

Pietro spat at the ground. "You should kill them. Make them pay for what they did to you. To my sister."

Bucky regarded the man carefully. "Did they experiment on you?" he asked.

Pietro shrugged. "How do you think we can do what we do?"

Bucky nodded, unsurprised by Pietro's confession. Hydra had been pretty prolific with their experimentation, and with a distinct lack of morals that most doctors had, they'd pushed the limits and achieved things through the expense of blood and pain. Bucky didn't remember much of the specifics, but he'd remembered enough fragments to know that the Winter Soldier program wasn't the only kind of experimentation they'd done.

"It's why we came to New York," Pietro said. "We wanted to escape."

"I don't blame you," Bucky replied, but before he could say anything else, there was a loud explosion that rattled through the complex. Bucky swore.

"They're not here," Pietro announced. "It was planted after they left."

"Figures," Bucky muttered; he really wasn't surprised by it. Hydra's particular brand of fuckery was pretty damn predictable these days. After all, he was once an integral part of it.

"We should leave," Pietro announced, an edge to his voice.

"Did you see something?"

"Not like you're thinking," he replied. "I think we're done here."

Bucky was very much inclined to agree. He really didn't want to stick around and explore the vast labyrinth of the base. S.H.I.E.L.D were the ones who should deal with that. They seemed to have a particular love for paperwork and would probably shit themselves in excitement at how much they found (Hydra had a fondness for keeping things on paper and documenting exactly the kind of terrible shit they did).

However, before they could actually do anything, another explosion went off and tossed them both to the ground. Bucky landed hard, only just stopping himself from biting his tongue off from the sheer force. "Fucking Hydra," he muttered once his head had stopped spinning.

"We're stuck," Pietro said.

/

Steve might not have had as many encounters with Hydra as Bucky had, but he was starting to really hate them. They attacked with a ferocity Steve was honestly surprised by. Hydra was really an all-or-nothing sort of group, going for the shots that maximised casualty and damages rather than any thought for conserving ammo or more strategic shots.

Eventually, though, the Avengers got to move the forces back, forcing the last of the Hydra members to either flee, or get left behind. Unfortunately, anytime any of the Avengers got close to a fallen Hydra member, they'd just swallow some sort of capsule and then leave nothing but a body behind.

Once there were no living Hydra forces around, it was time to assess damages. "Everyone okay?" Steve asked through the comms.

There was a chorus of yeses, but there were two missing.

"Soldier? Quicksilver?" Steve called into the comms again. He adjusted it, wondering if he'd managed to get the frequency wrong, but was given a burst of static for his trouble. He took another deep breath, hoping to god it wasn't the worst.

"You got anything on B-the Soldier or Quicksilver?" Steve asked Stark.

"Not a word," Stark replied. "They were on the basement levels. Maybe Hydra had something for them down there."

Steve felt his stomach drop, but tried not to let his fear show. "Then we'll go down and check."

Stark nodded. "I'll have JARVIS do a scan."

Steve wasn't sure what the hell that was, but he nodded and left Tony to it. After a moment of Tony talking at the air (Jarvis?), Steve got called back over.

"Looks like we're going back in there. Your Soldier is inside," Tony replied.

Steve felt his stomach drop. "What about Pietro?"

"In there with him," Tony said.

"Then we're going back in,' Steve said, and then over the comms. "Avengers, we need to back inside. The Soldier and Quicksilver are still inside."

"Are they alive?" Natasha asked, an edge of worry in her voice.

"I think so," Steve said, and looked over to Tony, who nodded.

"I will go in," Thor replied.

"We're all going in," Steve said. "Whatever's in there, we'll need to face it together."

/

As the minutes ticked by, Bucky was feeling his cool rapidly deteriorate. Everything about this room was getting to him, and he was almost ready to snap. Pietro had tried to shift the rubble, but it was too strong, and Bucky was too edgy to try and attempt to shift anything. Besides, he was pretty sure if he tried, he'd managed to make the rubble all fall on him.

All in all, it was not an ideal situation. He wondered if the rest of them had noticed he was gone. Maybe they had – after all, he couldn't get his comm to work anymore, receiving a rather painful burst of static when he'd tried to contact someone, anyone.

"They had to hurt us one last time," Pietro spat after he'd thrown himself at the wall of rubble one last time.

Bucky only gave a small nod in response. He didn't trust himself to speak.

"You okay?' Pietro asked.

Bucky shook his head, eyes fixed on his feet.

"Don't let them in your head," Pietro said simply. "They don't deserve to be—"

Pietro suddenly cut off. "They're coming to get us."

Bucky looked up at Pietro, who was smiling. "Really?"

"She's here," he replied confidently.

"Is that some kind of twin thing?" Bucky asked, belatedly remembering Wanda could probably read minds. Was there really any limit to what she could do?

"She can do anything, my sister," Pietro replied.

And true to his word, the debris fell away in a flash of red light, and the rest of the Avengers stood there. Bucky almost fainted at the sight of Steve standing there.

Pietro didn't waste any time running over to his sister and hugging her tightly, before pulling away slightly and chatting to her urgently in a language Bucky didn't quite understand, which said something. In his time as the Winter Soldier, it turned out he'd managed to pick up Russian, Chinese, a starling amount of Italian and several other languages near fluently. In his early recovery days, it'd been hell trying to speak, let alone speak in one language. For a full month, he hadn't been able to say more than a couple of words a sentence in one language.

"Thank fuck," Bucky replied, trying to hide his earlier discomfort. "I was beginning to think you lot weren't coming."

"We don't leave anyone behind," Steve replied, a smile on his face. "Are you both okay?"

"I'm fine," Bucky lied. He intended to mention it to Steve later, but right now he didn't want to admit it to everyone.

"Good," Steve replied, a bright smile on his face. Bucky kind of wished he wasn't wearing his cowl so he could see Steve's entire face, and not just half. There was a particularly cute thing that happened with Steve's eyebrows when he—

 _Christ Barnes,_ he told himself. _Get a fucking grip_. He was _not_ going to let himself get distracted.

"You two can fuck later, we should get out of here," Tony Stark cut in. "JARVIS found another level of explosives."

/

Steve didn't entirely relax until he and the rest of the Avengers were all back on the S.H.I.E.L.D helicarrier. He was extremely eager to get out of that place, mostly because he'd seen the look in the eyes of both Bucky and the Maximoff twins when they'd been in there. They all looked like they were staring at ghosts. Even now, as they flew out of Germany, all of them had withdrawn a little and were decidedly quiet.

The twins had stuck together like glue, whispering in a language Steve didn't recognise, while Bucky found a corner and stayed in it, glaring at anyone who got too close. Steve had thought about approaching him, but he figured it might be better to give Bucky space. Going in there can't have been easy for him and to be trapped in there too? Steve couldn't really imagine it.

"I'm throwing a party later. You're all invited," Stark announced during the third hour of their flight. Nobody had spoken much and the announcement caught Steve off-guard.

"What?"

"A party. Fun. Something to celebrate the fact we didn't just die right there. Better than a regular debrief."

"Oh," Steve said.

"Tony—" Bruce began, but Stark waved him off.

"No. I won't hear it. A party will be good for you all," he insisted, though Steve had the feeling he wasn't just talking about the other Avengers. "And Cap, you and your Soldier boy should show up too. Don't wear your masks. It's not going to be a costume party."

"A Party!" Thor called out joyfully. He was smiling brightly. "Let us celebrate a battle well one.

Clint shrugged. "Why not? But you better have free booze."

"Of course. I'm nothing if not a generous host," Tony said.

"Make it quality vodka and I might show up," Natasha replied.

"Done."

"We'll be there," Wanda said with a smile.

"What about you, Cap?" Stark asked.

"Uh," Steve began, but Stark cut him off again.

"I won't hear it. I've thought about it, and I feel like you should just try. We're not the enemy here. Besides, we've fought together long enough – let's be friendly now."

"What I was going to say," Steve said. "Is that I'll go."

"I'll be there too," Bucky added, speaking for the first time since Germany.

"If you figure out some way to drink through that mask, I'm not going to pleased," Tony warned.

Bucky just shrugged. "I don't wear it when I'm not fighting."

"Well, if I'd known it was that easy, I'd have invited you all over before now," Tony said.

"We'll be there," Steve said. "Figures it might be time we trusted you."

Tony clapped him on the shoulder, using his suit's repulsors to keep him up. "Good man," he said smugly.

/

Despite the fact that there were no more than ten people invited, Tony Stark had apparently decided that an entire floor of Stark Tower was the perfect place to hold the get-together. Bucky wasn't sure why he was so surprised. Iron Man had _money_. He and Steve stood outside the tower, looking up at the giant glass monstrosity.

"You sure you want to do this?" Steve asked. "We can go."

"I figure we should," Bucky said. "They should know who we are."

"Well, let's go inside," Steve said. "I have no idea how to do this."

"We could break in there," Bucky said. "I'm sure I could work it out."

"I don't think that's possible. I meant, like, normally."

"First," Bucky said slowly. "We walk in there—"

"Hey, I'm not that clueless."

Bucky gave him an exaggerated shrug. "Well I'm not the one who—"

"Don't you dare say that out loud. We're never speaking of that incident again," Steve replied, mock-offended.

Bucky laughed. "Come on, let's go," he said and grabbed Steve's arm, pulling him inside.

Despite Steve's worries, it was actually surprisingly easy to get up there. Once they'd mentioned they were here for Tony himself about Germany, the receptionist gave them a smile and led them to an elevator that was hidden around a corner from the public view.

"While you're in there, JARVIS will scan you and you'll be given automatic access to Mr Stark's private floors," the receptionist said as she let them in the elevator with a swipe of a card.

"Jarvis?" Bucky asked as he walked inside.

"The building AI," the receptionist replied.

Bucky's eyes widened. Stark had an AI? But then again, why should he be so surprised? Of course someone like Stark would have an actual AI.

Once the doors had shut, a voice spoke up. "Good evening, sirs. If you'd be so kind as to let me see some form of identification, I'll put you on Sir's private guest list."

Startled, Bucky looked around for a source, and realised this must be JARVIS.

Bucky dug around in his pocket, wondering if he'd remembered to bring something. Eventually he picked out his driver's licence and held it up.

"Thank you. Mr Barnes."

"Bucky."

"Please clarify your statement," JARVIS replied.

"Call me Bucky," he said. "Not Mr Barnes."

"Of course, Bucky," JARVIS said.

Steve got his ID out next. "Thank you, Mr Rogers."

Steve looked pained. "Please call me Steve."

Bucky laughed. "Oh my god. How had I not made that connection before?" he said.

"Not you too," Steve said, sounding resigned.

Before Bucky could reply, the doors to the elevator opened. He scanned the room, spotting all the Avengers in various positions. Tony was sitting on the couch, trying to look casual (and failing), with Bruce beside him, who was chatting quietly to Thor. The Maximoff twins were there too, sitting beside each other. Wanda was talking to Natasha, who was leaning up against Clint. Sam was there too, and gave a small wave when he saw Bucky and Steve there.

"Let me guess," Tony said, jumping up and running over to the two of them. He pointed at Steve with the glass of amber liquid in his hand. "Which one are you? Wait, no, don't answer that. Let me guess. You're the Captain."

Steve nodded and held out his hand. "Steve Rogers," he said. Bucky was surprised at how natural the gesture looked. It couldn't have been an easy thing for Steve to do.

"Well, Rogers, nice to put a name to the hero," Stark said. "Whiskey?"

Steve shook his head. "No point."

"What?"

"Can't get drunk," Steve replied.

Tony looked at him, wide-eyed. "We'll see about that," he said, and then turned to Bucky. "And what about you? Got a name to go with that rank, soldier?"

"Bucky Barnes," Bucky said, and held out his hand.

"I still can't believe you use that name, James," Natasha said as she walked over.

Bucky rolled his eyes.

Tony glanced between the two of them. "You _know_ him?"

Natasha shot him a bored look. "Of course," she replied mysteriously.

"Nice to see you two made it," Sam called out.

Thor gave over and gave them both a crushing hug. "It is good to see you, friends."

"Did you all know each other before now?" Tony asked, annoyed.

"Sort of," Steve replied. "Sam's my best friend. Bucky's my roommate, and Thor lives next door."

Tony just skulled the rest of his drink in response. "I need more whiskey," he muttered and moved over to the bar.

"Ignore him," Bruce said. "It's good to meet you both in a less formal setting."

"It's good to be here," Steve replied.

Bucky was almost surprised to find he shared the sentiment.

/

As the night wore on, Steve found himself starting to genuinely _like_ the people he'd come to call teammates. They hadn't particularly had much time for social interaction before as a whole, usually too busy with saving the world for something so ordinary.

Sure, he already knew Sam and Bucky quite well, as well as Thor to an extent, but the rest of the team were surprisingly easy to get along with. Natasha was also a good conversation partner– she was smart, and had a dry wit about her that was a lot like Steve's own. Clint, despite his professional demeanour, got surprisingly enthusiastic over _Dog Cops_.

Bruce was another surprise – he didn't particularly talk much, but he what he did say made you want to listen. Tony wasn't much of a surprise at all – Steve had already figured out the man, but tonight they seemed to get along better than the normally did; maybe because Stark knew who he was, and wasn't constantly trying to invade his privacy. Either way, Steve wasn't going to complain.

The twins were still a little distant, but after the first few drinks, they both warmed up and began showing off their powers enthusiastically. Of course, that then seemed to devolve into one big competition for which Avenger could do the most impressive trick.

Eventually, Steve drifted away from that when Bucky and Clint got down to arguing who could do the more impressive shot. He didn't really feel like he had much to contribute to such a discussion anyway.

"You should know," Natasha said suddenly from beside him. Steve had to fight the urge not to flinch. "I knew who you were before this."

He looked over at her. "Who told you?"

"Carter did," Natasha replied.

"When?"

"After Fury pulled her out. He needed help, and I provided. Seemed to like me enough to tell me to keep an eye on you."

"Does Fury know?"

"He might," Natasha said. "But I didn't tell him. He wouldn't sell you out again – he keeps secrets well."

Steve nodded, the knowledge settling uncomfortably in his stomach. He didn't think Peggy knew who he was, but maybe she'd still been more involved in the SSR than he'd thought, despite her 'retired' status.

"Does anyone else know?" he asked.

"Clint," Natasha said. "But that's it. I needed help in keeping an eye on you."

"You've been spying on me?"

Natasha just shrugged. "It's nothing personal. I was watching James, mostly, but then you were there too, so it was convenient. Two birds, one stone."

"I thought Bucky was cleared," Steve replied.

"He's a person of interest," Natasha said. "S.H.I.E.L.D was very interested in what he can do."

"And you've got him now."

"Not exactly. He's only in because he's only actually in," Natasha replied cryptically. "James doesn't want much to do with us."

"You want him as an agent," Steve stated.

"Of course," Natasha said. "He'd be good in the field, as would you."

"I'm already doing my part," Steve said.

"You could do more," she replied. "But whatever's comfortable, Rogers. I'm not going to push you into anything. Anyway, enough with that talk – let's see if Thor has something stronger than the shit Stark has."

And with that, the conversation was over. Steve tried not to think much about it for the rest of the night, but Natasha's words lingered. Was what they were doing enough?

* * *

A/N: And we're back in it! Super excited for the next few chapters, because I've finally got the end in sight - before now, I was about one or two chapters ahead in planning, but I've caught up to it now and I've got a plan for the ending. It'll 4 more full chapters + an epilogue. So, it'll be 17 chapters all up. Hopefully I'll get it all done before uni starts again (which is like, just under two months away).

Also, if any of you're interested, I also run the femslash big bang, which is admittedly pretty irrelevant to this current fic, but something I'm just gonna shamelessly promote anyway bc I'm Seriously Excited about it.

And as always, thanks so much for the reviews/faves/etc on this fic. I appreciate it all so much. And can't quite believe I've officially passed 40k on this thing (honestly this is literally the longest thing I've ever written in my life).


	13. Chapter 13

To: 8qn507n56

From: 9rn24v35d

Subject: Report X-67-b65q

Date: June 29 2015

Attachment: 2492874023 [pdf]

In the wake of recent events, here's a new plan for proceedings.

S.

NOTE: This message and all attachments will self-destruct in 24hrs of opening

/

To: 9rn24v35d

From: 8qn507n56

Subject: RE: Report X-67-b65q

Date: June 29 2015

Approved.

Z.

NOTE: This message and all attachments will self-destruct in 24hrs of opening

/

The shield missed the mark. Steve swore.

"Come on, Rogers, it's like you've never thrown that thing in your life," Stark called out, presumably trying to be motivational, but once again making Steve kind of want to hit the guy.

Steve swore under his breath, feeling like he was right back in the SSR all over again, with Colonel Philips breathing down his neck as he made his way through basic training.

Of course, the situations weren't actually that dissimilar. This was a S.H.I.E.L.D-endorsed Avengers training session. It'd taken the better part of the last couple of months and thirteen attacks for the whole idea to be put into place, but Steve had to agree it was a good one. Sure, they'd worked together well before, but it was incredibly useful to be able to actually practice throwing his shield again, rather than just flinging it into battle and hoping for the best.

Tony Stark had been the one to put it together, somehow converting a level of his tower into a state of the art gym and training facility. Now, they could all really test their abilities with little fear of the consequences.

"Y'know, this is like the time with Mole Man, y'know if we moved – aw, no arrow," Clint commented, but dropped his arrow before he could finish the thought.

"We're never talking about that again," Steve muttered, thinking back to the incident that happened way back in early May, not long after Stark's party where a low-level villain who's only accomplishment was that he didn't actually target New York this time, but rather, Chicago, which had been a particularly interesting day (further cementing in Steve's mind that working from home was a fantastic decision).

There'd been a strange increase in villainous activity in the past two months, which had ultimately sparked this decision. Not all of it was incredibly destructive, though it did have basically every kind of intelligence agency scrambling to figure out the cause. Nobody had any answers yet, and Steve could see how desperate S.H.I.E.L.D was getting and let them push the Avengers into more battles on home soil than jet setting off to more creepy Hydra bases. There just wasn't enough time to do both, and their priority was protecting people from more immediate threats.

Of course, with all of this, there had been a shift in public opinion about the Avengers. Post-Battle of New York, the majority of people were incredibly pro-Hero, though there was a growing faction that were adamant that if the superheroes just gave up, the villains would too. Steve could understand their anger, but he didn't share it. What he and the Avengers, as well as other quieter heroes were doing was important. Regular people just weren't equipped to deal with this, and the threats weren't going away anytime soon.

That had also come with the dangerous territory of trying to deal with PR too, which wasn't exactly a new concept for Steve, but it was a little strange to have Stark's people trying to feed him lines so the Avengers could have a good public image. The most predominant of these was Pepper Potts, Tony's girlfriend, who Steve was never less than amazed by.

"We should – talking about our failures is an important part of this team building shit," Stark commented, pulling Steve out of his train of thought.

"Did you actually read that S.H.I.E.L.D-issue booklet?" Natasha asked. "It's bullshit."

Stark rolled his eyes. "It was there. I was bored."

"You need to get out of this tower, Stark," Natasha replied, before launching herself into another attack one of the many dummies positioned around the room. Like always with Natasha, it was a technically flawless execution.

Stark shot her a dirty look, but made no other comment.

Steve went to retrieve his shield from where it'd been thrown down halfway across the room. He'd clearly thrown it harder than he thought. Stark often told him he should try switching to guns, but a weapon like that had never felt right in his hands. They were better suited to someone like the Winter Soldier, who used them so naturally it was like they were an extension of his body.

He looked over at Bucky, the cybernetically altered ex-assassin was speaking to Pietro and Wanda about whatever kind of gun he was currently using.

It was a strangely charming sight, and Bucky somehow managed to look up right at the moment Steve was looking at him and their eyes locked for a second before Steve looked away and back down at his shield, pretending to adjust the straps.

Not for the first time, Steve felt like some teenager with a crush on one of his classmates all over again. He kind of hated himself for it – of all the people he could've fallen for in such way, it had to be Bucky. Things between them had been so easy lately; the collective weight of their secret identities was gone and Steve didn't have to worry about any of it. It seemed a shame to ruin this friendship with a crush. Of course, he knew Bucky wouldn't be completely turned off by the fact Steve was a man, as his roommate was bisexual too, but the whole thing just felt weird. They weren't just roommates now – they were teammates too and if things went bad, Steve didn't know what he'd do with that.

He'd gotten too used to having Bucky around now, and risking that on the basis of a few pesky emotions seemed an unnecessary plight. Not that he'd expect it to go terribly – with the way they generally got a long, Steve couldn't imagine it being anything but easy – but he didn't want to take a chance on any of it.

"Steve, sir?" JARVIS called out suddenly, interrupting Steve's thoughts. "You're needed on floor 49 for a moment – Ms Potts want to talk to you."

Steve nodded, and walked out of the room, wondering what the hell was up. Maybe there was some other media crisis relating to Captain America going on. It wouldn't be the first time – especially now when Captain America was a lot more than just a bit of flashy government propaganda.

But once he got down to the floor, nobody was there.

"JARVIS?" he called out softly, wondering where Pepper was. There was no response. Steve wished he had his shield with him, but he'd made a habit of not carrying it around with him unless it was absolutely necessary (or he had his uniform on). He didn't want to risk getting snapped with it by some sneaky Stark Industries employee.

JARVIS didn't respond.

/

Once Steve disappeared from the room, Tony let out a sigh of relief. "Well, I'm glad that worked. Thanks, JARVIS."

"What the hell, man?" Sam asked.

Bucky tensed, ready to fight if needed. "What the fuck?" he spat.

"Calm down," Tony said with a wave of his hand. "Wilson, you especially should know what this is about. You too, Barnes."

Sam frowned.

Bucky was intensely confused. "I have no fucking idea."

"What's the date this weekend?" Tony asked.

"The four—Stark, _no_ ," Sam said seriously. "Steve won't like that."

"What?" Bucky asked, trying to catch up. Sure, it was the Fourth of July this weekend, but what did any of that have to do with Steve? Or this weird need for secrecy.

Stark seemed annoyed at his answer. "Do you actually not know when Steve's birthday is?" Tony asked.

Bucky thought about it. "No?" he said.

"Wait—really?" Sam asked.

"It never came up," Bucky replied. He'd had his birthday back in March, not long after he and Steve had moved in, so the topic hadn't exactly come up. And Bucky hadn't really thought to ask, which he realised he probably should've done.

Well, guess what," Tony said, the excitement in his voice rising. "It's on the _fourth of July_. Captain America was born on the fourth of July."

Bucky narrowed his eyes. "You're bullshitting me, Stark," he said and looked over to Sam.

"It's true," he said with helpless shrug.

"Huh," he said, surprised, and made a note to ask Steve about it later. "What the fuck are you doing about it?"

"Throwing him a party, clearly," Tony replied. "It's our patriotic duty."

"I've seen your 'parties' Stark," Sam said. "And Steve would hate it."

"This is for _America_ , Wilson have some—" Stark started, but then was cut off by a shrill alarm. Tony let out a frustrated groan and hit a button on his suit so the faceplate slid down.

The rest of the team sprang into action, pulling together their weaponry and waiting for a report.

"What is it, JARVIS?" Tony asked.

"It appears to be –" JARVIS began, but suddenly cut off in.

"JARVIS?" Tony asked again. "What's going on?"

"Hello Mr Stark," a voice echoed through JARVIS' speakers, but sounded nothing like the AI. "We meet again."

"Are we? I don't think I remember you."

"We are AIM," the voice replied. "And we'll destroy you and your Avengers."

Tony nodded, looking a little bored now the mystery was solved. "So we've seen. You going to come out and fight, or just keep hijacking my AI?"

"We're already in here. We have your Captain."

"I'm never going to try and plan a surprise party again," Tony muttered, then louder, "What do you want now?"

"We're going to kill him."

"Good luck with that, but I think Cap can handle himself," Tony said.

"Are we just going to stand here?" Sam asked.

Tony shook his head. "We're going to give Cap a hand," he said. "JARVIS buddy, if you're still around, initiate Protocol 57."

Natasha nodded in approval. "You're getting better at this whole thing."

"Getting kidnapped in a desert by a group of terrorists will do that to you," Tony replied. It took Bucky a minute to remember that was part of how Stark became a superhero. He hadn't been himself during the time Tony got kidnapped, only catching up on it after he'd gotten out, but he remembered reading all those pages of news and feeling entirely empathetic.

He'd wondered for a while if they were the same people, terrified they were branching out, but S.H.I.E.L.D had told him they were two entirely different factions.

"Well, you're learning," Natasha replied with a shrug.

"Let us go!" Thor said, clearly concerned about Steve. He swung his hammer a few times for emphasis and lighting crackled in the sky above.

"Alright, big guy, let's get going. Bruce, you in?" Tony asked. Bruce shook his head. Tony nodded, then moved on.

"Hawkeye and Widow, you go in first. Tell us how it looks down there," he said and Natasha and Clint nodded, before disappearing.

"Magic Twins, you and Thor are with me. Soldier, you're on point with Falcon," Tony continued.

Bucky loaded his gun. "Then let's go."

/

Steve was almost disappointed with the way his attackers fought. He'd expected better of people who attempted to ambush Stark tower, but the fight was almost over as soon as it started.

All of them seemed to be some kind of military, dressed in all-black tactical gear and loaded with weaponry, but whoever their CO was, they couldn't have trained them very well.

It took him eight minutes to take down all ten of them. Help arrived in fifteen.

"Hey Cap are you – oh," Tony said and stoped sharply in his suit when he spotted Steve. Behind him, Thor, Wanda and Pietro stood, all looking sort of confused at the pile of bodies on the floor.

"Did you plan this?" Steve asked. There was something a little too convenient about this.

"What? No," Tony replied and the faceplate slid up so Steve could see the serious expression on his face. "That was AIM."

"AIM?" Steve asked.

"Apparently we've met before, but I don't remember anyone like that. Probably someone I pissed off years ago."

Steve rolled his eyes. "Of course. Any others in the building?"

"Doesn't look like it."

Bucky and Sam got in a moment later. "Shit, you're okay," Bucky said through his mask, and although Steve couldn't see his mouth, he could tell Bucky was smiling.

/

Bucky's phone wouldn't stop buzzing. It was a couple of days after the incident during the training session, but Tony still didn't seem to be deterred by that. In fact, it only made him more insistent.

It was really only due to the combined efforts of Sam and Bucky that stopped Tony from going too overboard. Everyone else was far too excited about extravagance, or didn't comment.

"You gonna answer that?" Steve asked during dinner that night.

Bucky shook his head. "Tony's being obnoxious again," he replied, and the hastily thought of a lie. "He wants to get a look at my arm."

"I can talk to him, if you want?" Steve offered, all genuine and Bucky felt immediately bad about the lie.

"Don't bother. Its a lot more effort than it's worth," Bucky said.

"Are you sure?" Steve asked, an adorable frown on his face. Bucky was starting to recognise that look on him – the that's-not-right-time-to-fight look Steve got when anything remotely unjust happened. It didn't matter how big or small, Steve would go for it, full force if he thought it was at all worth it.

Usually, it ended in a fight, or some angry yelling, but right now it kind of made Bucky want to kiss that look away. Which, he kept telling himself, was a terrible idea. Steve might've been interested in dudes, but that didn't give Bucky a right to go hitting on him. He didn't think it was right – there was probably some kind of clause in his rental agreement about not trying to make out with his roommate. And even if there wasn't – Bucky still didn't want to risk anything. He was comfortable with Steve now, and putting his emotions on the line would've ruined that.

"It's really okay," Bucky replied. "Don't worry about it."

Steve nodded, though Bucky could just tell he would probably try and bring it up later, trying to be subtle about it and completely failing.

"Anyway," Steve said, "I was thinking we should all do something this weekend, for the fourth."

"What did you have in mind?" Bucky asked, wondering if he could get some better ideas about a party Steve might actually _want_ to go to.

"Honestly, I'd just like everyone around. Have a few beers and watch the fireworks – you're okay with fireworks, right?"

"Sure?" Bucky replied, wondering what the hell Steve was on about there.

"Oh good, I was just checking- because y'know, not everyone goes well with them. Sam used to be pretty terrible, but he's alright now."

 _Oh_ , Bucky thought, and then felt another rush of affection for Steve. God. How was a human being this literally perfect? Bucky thought it was completely unfair.

"So, yeah, I mean I really hate going all out, but it's nice to just –"

"Steve," Bucky said, figuring he should probably confess he knew, or at least get Steve to tell him. "Is it your birthday this weekend?"

Steve went bright red. "Uh," he replied. "…yeah?"

Bucky let himself laugh at that, because, really it was fucking ridiculous. "Seriously?" he asked.

"Yeah," Steve grumbled.

"You should've told me earlier," Bucky said. "We could've had a proper party."

"I really hate that. It's a national holiday," Steve argued.

" _And_ the fourth," Bucky replied, just to be a shit.

Steve rolled his eyes. "Don't start."

"Seriously, you should've mentioned something," Bucky insisted.

Steve shrugged. "I didn't want it to be a big deal."

"It's your birthday!" Bucky insisted. "This should have been a big thing. You're what – 25 now?"

"It's not important," Steve insisted.

Bucky rolled his eyes. "If you say so."

"When's your birthday then?" Steve asked.

"March 10th," Bucky replied.

Steve's eyes widened. "You should've told me!"

"We barely knew each other then," Bucky said with a shrug.

"I could've made you a cake," Steve replied.

Bucky's eyes widened, and he was momentarily distracted by the thought of Steve's baking. "Damn," he said, feeling legitimately disappointed.

Steve smiled. "There's always next year."

/

The moment Bucky dragged him to the tower, Steve's suspicions were confirmed. Bucky knew it was his birthday already, and he didn't doubt Stark had probably managed to find out somehow too. He'd hoped it really was just some Fourth party, but he knew better. People had tried before, and it seemed the Avengers were no different. Not that he minded too much – the thought was nice, but it wasn't exactly what he wanted.

"Come on, I'm sure Tony's got some kind of super-alcohol so we can actually get drunk tonight and you won't have to deal with anyone," Bucky said as he pushed Steve into the building.

"There better be," Steve said. "But I suppose from here we'll get a better view of the fireworks."

Bucky latched onto that. "Damn right we will," he said, and moved directly towards the private elevator, giving a small wave to the receptionist on staff.

"Good evening," JARVIS said cheerily in the elevator.

There were a few moments of polite conversation from Bucky, but Steve tuned it out and began to mentally prepare himself for whatever was waiting for him in Stark's private level. Probably something ostentatious and flashy – that was Stark's style.

But what greeted him was darkness, and then a sudden light as the Avengers all leapt out with a chorus of "Happy Birthday!"

Steve smiled in response. "I knew it."

"What? Really?" Bucky asked.

"You weren't exactly subtle about it," he replied.

Bucky rolled his eyes. "I totally was."

"Should've known you were going to work it out," Sam said, and came over to give Steve a hug. "Happy Birthday, man."

"I suppose I have you to thank for this not being some kind of ball?"

"Damn right you do," Sam replied.

"Hey," Stark replied. "I can do subtle."

"Clearly," Bucky said with a roll of his eyes. "We all know what this party would've looked like if we'd let you have free reign."

"I'm offended," Stark said.

"Happy Birthday, Steve," Thor said and gave him a tight hug. "I bring gifts."

"You didn't have to," Steve replied, trying to breath around the crushing strength of Thor's embrace.

"You will love this one," Thor said, and pulled away from the hug to present him with a strange light-up ball.

"What is it?"

"An ornament from Asgard," Thor said. "It will protect your home."

"Oh, wow, thanks," Steve said earnestly.

"It's no trouble," Thor replied with a smile.

"I want to look at that later," Tony said. "But your gift? Floor 53."

Steve frowned. "What?"

"I was thinking – that apartment you live in frankly sucks," Tony continued, and handed Steve a key card. "And I have better. So, whenever you want, it's there. For the both of you."

Steve blinked at the key card in his hand. "Are you sure?"

Tony shrugged. "Of course."

The party only got better from there. Everyone was in good spirits, and as it was only the Avengers around, Steve felt entirely relaxed and free. There was nothing he had to hide from these people – they knew who he was, and understood completely. Not for the first time, he was completely blown away by them all. Sure, he'd had Sam before, but that was just one person. Now, he'd had more than he could've hoped. It made him almost wish he'd spoken sooner, but maybe this was the right time for it. As his mother used to say, things had a way of working themselves out when the time was right.

"Look! The Fireworks are starting," Sam called out, and everyone moved over to the window. Steve and Bucky lagged behind a little, and moved off to the side. At some point, they'd drifted off from the main conversation, and started talking about everything and nothing. Everyone was at least a little drunk now, even Steve and Bucky, who'd been given some kind of incredibly strong mix from Tony, who'd assured them both it should last at least a couple hours.

It was a sort of strange experience for Steve, who hadn't ever been drunk before the serum, and certainly not after. He felt buzzed and light, like he was floating on air, along with an incredible urge to hug everyone in the room.

"When I was a kid, mom used to tell me the fireworks were just for me," Steve told Bucky, words only slightly slurred. "We were usually too poor to have any sort of party, and that was the best."

Bucky smiled. "When did you work it out?"

"I think I might've been eleven? Twelve? Either way, I felt stupid as hell for not figuring it out sooner."

"You thought every kid had fireworks on their birthday?"

"Thought I was something' special."

Bucky leaned his head against Steve's shoulder. "You kind of are," he said softly. Feeling confident at the contact, Steve put his arm around Bucky and pulled him closer.

Neither of them said anything about the contact, but Steve could feel his pulse racing. It felt so nice, to be this close to Bucky. He kind of wanted to stay like that forever.

 _This is the best birthday ever_ , he thought, looking out at the city, where the fireworks illuminated the night sky.

* * *

A/N: woo! more updates! I feel like I should've done this sooner, but turns out the sims is an incredibly distracting game (I haven't even had it all that long and I've already clocked near 70 hours please stop me).

Anyway, yes! feelings are happening! They won't take too much longer to sort their shit out after this, I promise. Also fun fact for a while one of my chapter plans simply read 'THE KISS'. So, it's definitely going to be a thing and I'll stop dragging out the slow build tag (I was telling my friends about this who were kind of amazed I managed to go 40k w/o any kissing).

Faves/Reviews/Etc are always so appreciated. You're all amazing.


	14. Chapter 14

New York Bulletin

July 28 2015

 **WAR ON NEW YORK?**

 _City in chaos once again after masked villain melts Bedford-Stuyvesant. Who is at fault?_

Full story, pages 3-12

 _Avengers stepped in to save the day. Can they be trusted?_ [p. 12-15]

/

"…The city isn't safe anymore, y'know? I mean we're walking around every [bleep] day worried some [bleep] with a death ray will decided to use New York as a testing ground because he dislikes one of those masked vigilantes. And those Avengers, what are they even doing? Jack [bleep], I tell you. They're only making [bleep] worse – if we didn't have those [bleep] superheroes, then we'd be a whole lot better off."

/

"So, enlighten me, what the fuck happened yesterday?" Fury asked when he walked into the room.

"We saved he city," Steve replied, feeling affronted by the implications of Fury's tone. They'd done their job, even if the casualties were high (and Steve felt terrible about that).

Fury gave Steve a challenging look. "Captain," he said firmly. A clear warning, that was probably supposed to make Steve back down, but he wasn't going to.

"With all due respect," Steve began. "You gave us a job, and we're doing it. I don't like how yesterday worked out, don't get me wrong, but I don't appreciate the questioning of our skills."

"Uh," Sam began, clearly ready to diffuse the tension, but neither Fury didn't look like he was going to back down, and Steve sure as hell wasn't either.

"I want to know what happened. This is S.H.I.E.L.D-ordered operation, and we need to get to the bottom of this so Agent Hill can write the goddamn report," Fury said and gestured to the Agent standing beside him with a tablet in her hand.

Steve took a deep breath. "You saw how it started – he came out of nowhere and started melting buildings – everything just turned to liquid. Then he started yelling about finding us, so we showed up. Stark was the first to get there."

"And I had it under control too, but then he got at my suit," Tony interjected. "Didn't get through it, but it was a close call."

"And then the rest of us got there," Steve continued. "Me, Falcon and the Soldier first, then the Hulk and the twins. Widow and Hawkeye were last on the scene, but they got there just in time."

Steve goes on with the story – explaining exactly how the man who proclaimed himself to be the 'Melter' (original, he was not) and destroyed several buildings in Bed-Stuy before anyone could get there. It was a horrible sight to see, like some kind of terrible horror movie come to life. Buildings literally liquefied and flooded the streets. He felt a little sick just talking about it, but pushed through his discomfort to tell the full story.

The fight had been pretty brutal, and more people had died before they could stop the Melter. The deaths weighed on Steve's conscience, and he wished there was some way he could've done more. If only he'd been faster or stronger or _something_ more, then he might have saved more lives.

They really only managed to end the fight thanks to a particularly clever trick shot from Clint, who'd used an arrow to knock the ray gun out of the Melter's hands before he could destroy another building. It had taken a long time to line up the shot, especially with the rapidly decreasing amount of buildings in the area and the flooded streets. Most of the Avengers hadn't even been fighting during the fight – Iron Man and Falcon, with Quicksilver to an extent, were the ones providing most of the force, with the other Avengers trying to make sure everyone was clear of the area (which was a lot harder than Steve expected it to be. He suddenly had a greater appreciation of emergency rescue services).

Once that final shot from Clint had come, Steve had almost collapsed in relief, but he'd had several more people to clear out of the area. He'd been so glad it was over than as soon as he was sure everyone was safe, he'd gone home and collapsed on his bed

"We did everything we could," Steve finished, letting out a sigh. "I wish nobody else had gotten hurt, but it happened."

Fury nodded. "Alright then," he said. "Now, Agent Hill will finish off the report, and if there's anything else you need to add, then let her know. Otherwise, we'll speak later. Stark, I trust you've got someone to deal with the fallout from this?"

Stark nodded. "Pepper has a team," he said. "She's good with this stuff."

"Make it work. We can't afford to have the public turn too far against you. Unfortunately, they still matter in this decision making process. Too much unrest wouldn't do a damn thing to help."

"They'll be writing us songs by the time we're done," Stark promised.

Fury nodded. "Dismissed," he said, and he and Agent Hill left the room without another word.

"Right," Stark said. "I'm thinking Gala – those are always good."

"What?" Steve asked, not following Starks' sudden outburst.

"We're going to raise funds to rebuild what that asshole destroyed," Stark explained. "Pepper's had the idea for a while, and you're all coming."

"You sure about that?" Sam said.

"Sure as anything – besides, it's time for the public to get to know us a little better. Interviews do wonders for public image."

"I'm not speaking to any damn reporters," Bucky complained.

"You're going to have to," Stark said. "People like you more once they think they know who you are."

/

As Bucky expected, the Stark Relief Ball was an ostentatious and entirely over the top affair. Though Pepper had managed to restrain Tony somewhat (cementing in Bucky's mind that she was truly some otherworldly being – how anyone could get someone like Tony Stark to quiet down was a mystery to him), it was still incredibly _Tony_. He'd converted an entire floor of the tower into a lush ballroom, with tables upon tables of people – a mix of both victims and families of the Bed-Stuy attack, as well as more people with the kind of money Stark had.

It'd been a few weeks since the attack, so people were mostly excited about the whole affair, still in that mindset of being thankful for the help the Avengers provided. Though Bucky was also very well aware of the people who didn't share that view – there was a growing faction of people who despised the Avengers, believing if they stopped being heroes, the threats would stop.

Bucky didn't really give a shit about what those people thought – he wasn't here to please people, just save them. Both Fury and Pepper however had insisted they mattered and Pepper helpfully provided lists and lists of things that Bucky could do to improve his image. He knew people weren't exactly trusting of him, mostly because of what scraps people could find on his past, which wasn't much at all. So naturally, he'd gotten used to seeing aggressive comments about him, though people were starting to really warm up to him since he'd teamed up with Captain America and then the Avengers.

Pepper had also tried to get him to interact with as many people as possible tonight – he was dressed up in his uniform, mask and all, and given the mission to interact with the attendees of the whole Gala. Bucky had mostly avoided it – he had absolutely no desire to get into the spotlight, but Pepper was a persistent woman. She'd cornered him into several conversations before he'd had the good sense to disappear (he'd stripped off his uniform in a private bathroom and changed into a suit, put on his synthetic skin, re-styled his hair and then suddenly he was just Bucky Barnes again).

However, there were some perks to the night. For instance, Steve in a suit was a sight to behold (it seemed he'd also got the right idea about blending in). Bucky didn't think he'd ever quite recover from that. And the whole open bar thing, which Stark seemed to take very seriously (even providing for those who could not get drunk of regular alcohol, though Bucky didn't really indulge – he just liked the taste of alcohol). So, he'd situated himself in a corner very near to the bar where he didn't have to interact with anyone but the bartender, and kept his eyes on Steve, for his protection, obviously.

Everyone else seemed to be pretty natural at interaction – Natasha slipping into spy-mode and blending into the crowd, Clint with his jokes, Steve and Sam both with their natural charisma, Tony being, well, Tony and the twins sticking together with every interaction. Thor was really getting into it too – cheerily chatting away to any and every person he met. The only other person who didn't seem too keen on people was Bruce, who Bucky had only seen a few times in the night – he'd only appeared when speeches or some other important moment of the night was going on.

But despite that, Bucky was worried. The whole thing was so damn _perfect_ that he was just waiting for something to fuck up and go wrong.

"Any more tense and you might actually break that glass," Natasha said, suddenly appearing beside Bucky. She looked different to the last time he'd seen her – new dress, and a dark wig, as well as a slightly slouched posture.

"I'm fine," he said, and scowled at her, which probably didn't help his case.

Natasha raised an eyebrow at him. "Really? So you're fine even though your boy is flirting with that girl over there?"

Bucky tried to subtly glance around the room for Steve to see if whatever Natasha was saying was true, though he knew he wasn't fooling her. Sure enough though, Steve was chatting to a blonde woman with a bright smile. She was clearly interested in him, though Steve didn't seem to pick up on it. Or maybe he was actually interested in her too.

"I'm really fine," he lied. It was probably a bad idea to attempt to spin that to Natasha, but he wasn't quite ready to admit this embarrassing crush on Steve to anyone else but himself.

"You're not fooling me, James," Natasha said. "I know you're into him."

"You don't know anything," he said, making another bad decision. Natasha could definitely see right through him.

"Have you even considered he might like you too?" she asked.

"He's my friend," Bucky said. "And teammate. It could get weird."

"It might not. Besides, if it does fuck up, you're both grown ups. You can deal with it."

"We _live_ together," he said.

She rolled her eyes. "Then move out if it's too much."

"I don't have another place. It was really only lucky that I got to move in with Steve. It's a too-perfect spot. I'm not gonna compromise that."

"Or maybe it doesn't go bad and you'll have worried about nothing?" Natasha shot back.

"I'm just considering all my options," he said, though beyond the odd fantasy, he hadn't given it much serious thought if it _did_ actually work out between him and Steve. The whole idea had just seemed too impossible.

Natasha just gave him another look, and opened her mouth to say something, but then the room exploded in a burst of bright light.

/

Everything seemed to happen all at once after that. One moment Steve was chatting to an incredibly nice woman named Sharon (who he was pretty sure was a shield agent, but he didn't want to ask), the next the room was in chaos as people screamed and tried to flee. Using the chaos to his advantage, Steve slipped into a corner and shed his suit to put back on his Captain America uniform before picking up his shield from the place he'd hidden it in the bar.

When he ducked back up, he saw that half the room held guns to the other half, all aimed right at the forehead. All over the place, people were crying and screaming for their lives, but those who held the guns seemed unmoved by their pleas.

The rest of the Avengers were scattered across the room, all of them frozen in place, but looking like they were seriously considering attacking anyway.

"Nobody move – or people start dying," a voice rang out across the room, rendering everyone silent. Steve turned to look at the stage, where a man with a strange monocle stood. "Now, Captain America, I've been waiting for this day a long time."

"Well," Steve yelled out. "I'm sorry if I can't share the sentiment. Who the hell are you?"

"Oh, I'm sorry. I've watched you for so long now that I forget we've never met. Baron Wolfgang von Strucker. And we," von Strucker said, waving his arm around the room, "made you who you are today."

"The SSR helped with that," Steve shot back. "And you don't look like an SSR agent."

"Of course not," he replied. "We killed them all. Besides, what were you to them? An experiment. We made you something _more_. Without us, you wouldn't be here today."

"And who the hell are you?"

"We," von Strucker said, "are Hydra."

Steve tightened his grip on his shield. "Well, I'm sorry I can't exactly thank you for that."

There was a strange smile on von Strucker's face. "We gave you your teammates too – did they tell you that? They're our creations. Your Soldier, and our miraculous twins."

Steve hadn't really known about the twins – Wanda and Pietro didn't talk about their lives before much at all. But he'd assumed as much, especially after their first trip to that Hydra base in Germany. "And you want what? To take them back?"

"We would welcome them with open arms," von Strucker replied. "Wanda and Pietro, your creator has missed you so. You too, Soldier, though our Zola could not be here with us today."

"If you come back, all of your transgressions will be forgiven," a different man said as he stepped forward. The first thing Steve noticed about him was the purple mask that covered his entire head. It would've been funny, if not for the way the twins were looking at him.

"I'm not going anywhere with you," Bucky called out across the room. He stood forward, mask covering his face and somehow had a gun in his hand. He was somehow in a suit now, and not his usual gear.

"Oh, but you will," the man in the purple mask said. "You belong to me now – Zola gave all he had to me, and I have continued his work. I am your master now. But what about you, my twins? Will you come back to me?"

Wanda and Pietro looked worried. Both of them were still standing together, holding each other's hand in a vice-like grip.

The man said something in a language Steve didn't know. The twins stiffened and dropped each other's hand. Bucky looked on edge, like he wanted to drop his weapon, but Steve could see him strain to hold it tighter.

"I'm not going back," Bucky spat.

"You – you will not take us," Wanda said. Her voice was shaky, but there was a force behind it. Her hands started to glow red. "You will leave."

"We'll always be here for you, my child," the man in purple said.

"You will not t-take us," Wanda repeated.

"We're not going anywhere with you, Zemo," Pietro said. He spat on the floor. "You have done enough to us."

"You tortured us," Pietro continued. "You stole us away from home and turned us into experiments."

"As the man said, you can fuck right off," Bucky said. "I could kill you all right now, if I wanted."

On Stage, von Strucker watched the exchange with fascination. Steve wondered what was going through his mind. He clearly didn't look worried about it – or maybe he was just good at hiding his fear.

Looking back at his teammates, Steve felt angry. None of them deserved whatever the hell Hydra had done to them – what they thought they could get away with. They'd twisted good people, and by some miracle those good people had come back. Nobody deserved to back to Hydra after all they'd endured to get out.

"I'm afraid we can't let you take them back," Steve said, and moved closer, shield raised in warning. "You've all done enough."

"We're only just getting started," Zemo replied, his eyes still fixed on the twins.

"No, you're going to die," Wanda said, and suddenly the room was awash in red light.

"LEAVE!" Zemo yelled. Many of the Hydra operatives dropped their weapons, though a few kept hold, but all of them ran. Steve glanced at the stage – somehow Strucker had vanished just as quickly as he'd appeared.

Once all the Hydra agents were all gone, everyone went about picking up their things, a few even loudly complaining about the way they'd been treated. Steve didn't really blame them – it was a terrifying experience.

Bucky was suddenly in Steve's face. "You okay?" he asked, still wearing the mask.

"I'm fine," Steve replied. "I should be asking you that."

Bucky just shrugged. "I've been better," he said, though he still looked quite pale. Steve glanced around the room, and ushered Bucky out, trying not to draw too much attention to them. Once they were out of sight, Steve reached out for a hug. Bucky accepted and clung tightly to Steve for a long moment.

"Thanks," Bucky said when he pulled away.

"Do you want to get out of here now?" Steve asked.

"Is that a good idea?"

"I don't think there's much we can do here," Steve replied. "Besides, Tony and Pepper can sort this out."

"Then let's go," Bucky said.

"Hey JARVIS?" Steve said. "Can you let Tony know we're off?"

"Certainly," JARVIS replied.

Once that was sorted, the two of them changed quickly into their suits, and suddenly they were just two guys walking down the street at night. Neither of them felt like taking a taxi, and both were fit enough to deal with the walk home.

"Are you bothered by that?" Bucky asked.

"By what?"

"That Hydra's the one to take down the SSR."

"Oh," Steve said, thinking about it. "Not really. I mean, I always knew it had to be someone organised – not surprised it was Hydra."

"And that whole thing about 'creating you'?"

"You know about the Red Skull, right?" Steve asked. Bucky nodded. "Well yeah, he was the head of Hydra, and I guess they like to think that me defeating him somehow means I owe them for what I am."

"Fucking Hydra," Bucky commented.

Steve had to agree.

/

When they got back home, Bucky collapsed on the couch. "I'm never moving ever again," he mumbled into the cushions. He felt exhausted, which was probably a side effect of whatever trigger-word Hydra had tried to use. In another life, it might have compelled him to murder people, or something like, but now he just felt a lot over-tired. He'd been trying to fight it the whole walk home, but now he was inside the apartment, he'd given up.

"Did you want to sleep on the couch tonight?" Steve asked.

"I'm not moving," Bucky replied, feeling his eyes drift shut.

"I could carry you, if you want," Steve suggested. Bucky cracked open an eye, and thought about it. He knew it was probably a terrible idea, but in his exhausted state, he decided it was an _excellent_ idea. The couch wasn't terrible, it

"Take me to bed, Rogers," Bucky replied, the words flying out of his mouth before he could think about it. He didn't look, but he was sure Steve had turned bright red.

"Uh, sure," Steve said and then Bucky was suddenly in the air, held up by Steve's impossibly strong arms. Bucky was kind of impressed, and of course started to mentally catalogue all the potential this new information had. He knew it was probably awful, but he didn't care in the moment. Besides, it wasn't like he was saying any of this out loud.

"Huh?" Steve said.

Fuck.

"Nothing," Bucky said a little louder than what he'd already apparently been. "Get me to bed."

Suddenly, Bucky was dumped on the bed. It was so much better than the couch.

"Goodnight, Buck," Steve whispered in his ear. Bucky felt a hand trail across his metal arm. It was such a nice sensation.

"Night," Bucky said, and rolled over, asleep.

* * *

A/N: Well, I've officially passed 50k with this fic. Honestly I'm extremely surprised at myself for getting such a large amount of words written - and it's not even done yet. But it will be, soon. The Kiss, as well as other important things are going to happen.

And fun fact once again I've pulled a marvel villain from the depths of obscurity and used them for my own purposes. Melter is once again a real dude, and his ray gun can apparently melt literally any kind of material, even the iron man suit at one point. I toyed with a few different ideas, but I always like referencing the comic canon in small ways (and speaking of, until I started reading the Jessica Jones comics, I didn't realise that in marvel-canon Steve's identity is actually a government secret. huh).

Anyway, once again I wanna say thank you all so so much for the reviews/faves/follows/general attention y'all have given this fic. It's honestly The Best.


	15. Chapter 15

To: 5pw7v42c8

From: 22vnz7c24

Subject: Offers

Date: August 12 2015

Attachment:

Here's the full list. Payment will be made in full on confirmation of the kill.

/

To: 22vnz7c24

From: 5pw7v42c8

Subject: RE: Offers

Date: August 12 2015

It will be done.

/

When the knife hit his throat, Bucky knew he was dead.

"Got you," Natasha said softly and rolled off him, the knife going with her. Bucky rubbed at his neck, once again glad the knife was made of rubber.

"Yeah, yeah," he said and pushed himself up off the mat.

"Jesus," Stark said with a low whistle. "You two would be dangerous fuck buddies."

"God, no," Bucky said with a frown. As much as he liked Natasha, anything beyond friendship would've been weird. He'd never been able to see her like that – she was too tangled up in his history and he'd honestly seen her as more of a sister than anything else. Besides, he was currently interested in Steve (not that anyone had to know that).

"He's not my type," Natasha added and left it at that. "Who's next?"

"I'll go," Steve said, raising his hand like it was goddamn high school. Bucky had to fight the urge to roll his eyes.

Natasha raised her eyebrows at him. "If you think you can take me," she said and moved back into a fighting stance. Somehow, it looked more natural than her 'casual' posture.

"Probably not, but I figure it's good practice," Steve replied.

The fight began with the two of them circling around each other, sizing the other up. Natasha struck first – jumping at Steve and pushing him to the floor. Steve was quick to fight back though, pushing her off and getting up at a speed that someone his size shouldn't have been able to manage.

Natasha didn't seem thrown by this – instead, she just took it in stride and moved to attack again. After that, the fight was over. It wasn't as drawn out as the one Bucky had with her, but it was certainly longer than the one Clint had with her, which was famously over in about thirty seconds flat ("I'm a sniper! And a spy!" Clint had argued when he'd gone down. "I don't need to get in close.").

"Not terrible," Natasha said when she had Steve was pinned down for the mandatory ten seconds that indicated the end of a fight. "You need to watch your back better."

"So I keep telling him," Bucky complained.

"He'll never listen," Sam added. "I've been trying to tell him that for years."

Steve rolled his eyes in response. Bucky knew the man would remember the advice, but if he'd actually put it into practice was another story. One thing that really bothered Bucky about the way Steve fought was how full on reckless he was when it came down to protecting people. In the training simulations Stark had rigged up, Steve would dive on grenades, grab the bombs, take the plane down, or whatever other ridiculously self-destructing thing he could come up with if it meant people would be safe. Didn't matter what the fight was about, if it meant less people got hurt, Steve would take that option.

To an extent, Bucky admired Steve for it – there weren't a lot of people who'd do that – bit he knew that it would probably come around and really hurt Steve one day. And when that day came. Bucky wasn't sure even the uncanny super-soldier body of his could save him from that.

"Anyone else?" Natasha asked. Pietro and Wanda looked like they wanted to say yes, but both looked a little wary of Natasha.

"I'm not falling for that," Sam said. "I have some pride left."

"I'll go easy on you," Natasha promised.

"Once again, not falling for it," Sam replied.

Natasha smiled. "A shame. Tony?"

"No thanks," Stark replied. "Besides, as much fun as we're having, we have a full day ahead."

"Aw, no," Clint commented from his corner, where he'd been firing arrows after his loss to Natasha. "I had plans."

"Well, cancel them. There are more important matters here."

"Like what?" Clint asked.

Tony waved his hands at a wall. "JARVIS, pull it up," he said.

"Superheroes: Our Savours or Destroyers?" Clint read out. "They could do better."

"That's what I said," Stark cut in. "But that's not the point. The point is they don't like us, and that's a problem."

"I'm not in it to make them like us," Bucky replied.

"Yeah, well, Fury had a point before – if they don't like us, then they stop trusting us, and ergo we can't do our job. We're like a brand, and brands need good PR."

"What we should be doing is taking down Hydra, not worrying what a few people think of us," Bucky replied.

"Point, but have you ever been swarmed by haters? I think not," Stark replied. "It's not pretty, and people _will_ do anything to take you down."

Bucky frowned. He hadn't liked the idea when Fury suggested it, and he especially didn't like it now that Stark had made the suggestion.

"I'm with Bucky on this one," Steve replied. "As difficult as it can be, we need to focus on more important things."

"These people could expose your whole identity," Stark replied. "And then where would you be?"

Steve seemed stumped for a moment, before straightening up and replying, "I don't care anymore. I mean, I'm not about to go telling just anyone my identity, but if they find it well, I know how to disappear."

"You are aware you have an entire floor of this tower?" Stark shot back.

Steve clamped up at the mention of Stark's birthday gift. He'd initially seemed pretty grateful for the gift, but since the actual day, he hadn't mentioned it at all. "It's tactically unsafe."

"This tower is one of the safest places on the planet. And you're a superhero."

"It makes this place a target, and there's the fact there's a lot of innocent people in here."

"So? You want to move us all out of the city?" Stark challenges.

Steve looks a little annoyed, as if he were just about to suggest it. "It's not the worst idea," he replied. "There's too many people in New York."

"Y'know, I never thought you'd back down from a fight."

"I just don't think putting countless people at risk for this is at all a good idea," Steve replied. "They clearly want us, and if it means I need to move, then fine."

"Here would be a lot safer than you think. JARVIS is the best security."

"There's at least two people in this room who could break in here."

"Three," Bucky cut in. Sure, he might not be the same kind of spy Natasha was, but he was sure of at least eight different routes that would let him get into Stark tower without being picked up off the top of his head.

"Three, then. That's worse. Are you going to tell me this is a safe place?"

"They're all freaky spies. They don't count," Stark shot back.

"Steve does have a point," Bruce cut in. He'd been mostly staying out of the fighting, simply just doing some yoga and occasionally shutting Stark down when he'd gotten on some kick.

Tony looked a little betrayed at Bruce's comment.

"It's true," Bruce said apologetically.

"I could get in here," Wanda said. "Me and my brother, both."

"See?" Steve said. "Five people in this room alone. What's to say the next person with some kind of power won't try to get in here if we're all in the one spot?"

"A better fortress would be safer," Thor added.

"I'm with the rest of you on this one," Sam said. "Besides, I like where I live."

Stark frowned. "You'll all be crawling back here one day," he replied.

/

Once they were all out of the session, Steve had to take a several deep breaths.

"I hate that guy sometimes," Steve vented as they walked back home.

Bucky just shrugged. "He can be an asshole."

"I just don't get why he had to do that," Steve continued. Maybe, just maybe, he could see Stark's point, but he didn't think it was worth the damage.

"Don't think about it," Bucky advised.

"You sound like Sam."

"Sam probably has a point."

Steve rolled his eyes. Logically, he knew he should agree, but he'd never been good at being calm about things like this. Thankfully, Bucky just let him rant about it all the way home, occasionally making a comment but otherwise patiently listening.

Once they got home, Steve was still buzzing with energy, so he decided to channel it into baking again. He wasn't normally one for it, but in the moment nothing sounded more appealing than losing himself in cooking. There was something incredibly relaxing about measuring out the ingredients, mixing them together and seeing the final product.

Sam called when Steve was halfway through mixing his third batch of cookies.

"Tonight – you, me, Barnes and even Thor, if he's game," Sam said when Steve answered.

"Why?"

"We all need a break. This is a break," Sam said.

"Oh, sure, I'll ask Bucky if he's in," Steve replied and moved over to knock on Bucky's door.

"What?" Bucky called from behind the door. "I'll be there in a minute. Don't eat all the cookies. I can smell them from here."

Once Bucky opened the door, Steve did a double take. Bucky was shirtless, and without whatever fake skin he used to cover up the arm. Sure, Steve had seen his roommate without a shirt before, but it was a little different now he'd developed feelings for the guy.

Suddenly, Steve remembered Bucky's words from the night of the Gala. _Take me to bed, Rogers_.

Steve was sure he was going red, but he pushed through it anyway. "Sam wanted to know if you're in to go out tonight?"

"Oh yeah, sure," Bucky replied. "When?"

"In about an hour," Steve said.

"Plenty of time to get ready then," Bucky said with a smile.

"I'll go see if Thor's in," Steve replied, unsure of what else to say. He felt a little awkward as Bucky closed the door again.

Naturally, Thor was _very_ into the idea of going out.

"Of course! A celebration night!" He'd replied enthusiastically to Steve's invitation.

"Sam will be pleased," Steve said. "We'll leave in an hour."

Getting ready himself was a strangely anxiety-inducing task. Sure, he'd done it before, but with the simple fact _Bucky_ was coming too made him change his shirt three times before he settled on a navy blue one, but even then he was starting to doubt the decision.

 _Get it together, Rogers,_ _this isn't a date,_ he told himself.

/

In the moment, Bucky wished like hell he had some of Stark's super-alcohol so he could actually get drunk. The place Sam had taken them wasn't bad – the atmosphere was decent and the music not too overwhelming, even for him. The problem wasn't in the venue at all.

The problem, in fact, was Steve. Which wasn't so much Steve in and of himself, but rather Bucky's inability to look away. Steve looked _good_. Not that Steve usually looked bad, but there was something about him tonight that was seriously compromising Bucky. He'd had some vague plan to find the nearest attractive person and hook up with them, but he couldn't focus on the crowd. All he could really look at was Steve.

It was fucking pathetic, he knew that, but he couldn't stop sneaking glances. He felt like he was in high school all over again, acting all hopeless over a crush.

Of course, it wasn't just about how Steve looked. His feelings weren't about that – it was how fucking _good_ Steve was, how much of a great person he was to everyone he met. How much he just valued people.

"You alright, man?" Sam asked at one point in the night. Bucky tore his gaze away from Steve, who'd gone to the bar to get them all a drink.

"I'm fine," Bucky replied. He was sure Sam had noticed something, hell the whole team probably knew. Except, it seemed, for Steve. But then again, Bucky had managed to hide his entire career as a superhero from Steve for months. So maybe it wasn't _that_ obvious.

Bucky really hoped it wasn't obvious.

"Wanna dance?" Sam asked when Steve got back.

"Oh, yeah, sure," Bucky replied. Maybe he could lose himself in the crowd and find someone half decent to make out with. Suddenly, the hook up plan seemed a lot more plausible.

"I'm in," Steve said.

Bucky abandoned the idea permanently.

"Let us go!" Thor said enthusiastically and pulled both Steve and Bucky to the dance floor. "Dance together and be merry."

Sam looked amused by the whole interaction, and then disappeared into the crowd of people that had suddenly made their way to the dance floor. Soon enough, everyone was packed tightly together, which naturally meant Bucky was essentially pressed right up against Steve.

Steve looked a little awkward, and might have even been blushing, but Bucky's eyesight, although better than a regular person's, couldn't tell in the dim light.

They weren't quite touching, although Bucky was fully prepared to close the gap. His fingers kept twitching, eager to grab Steve's waist and pull him closer. Bucky was just waiting for a sign.

Steve moved closer.

Bucky took a leap of faith.

 _Please, please, please let me be reading this right_ , he thought to himself has he leaned in, fully prepared to kiss Steve. It was the perfect moment, and all Bucky had to do was –

The music stopped short, and the lights went up.

"So, sorry guys, looks like there's something going on outside. Nothing to worry about, I'm sure, but it looks like there's a, uh, well, I'm not sure what it is," the DJ said. "Security will take you to the nearest exits."

All around them, people groaned.

"Should, we, uh, deal with that?" Bucky asked, trying to ignore his racing heart.

"What?" Steve asked. He was definitely blushing.

"The situation outside?"

"Oh, sure," Steve said. "I'll get Sam and Thor."

And just like that, Steve was lost to the crowd. The moment was gone, and there was probably no getting it back.

/

The fact that the situation outside turned out to be a villain didn't surprise Steve, though the death ray caught him off guard. Thankfully, the guy didn't really seem to know what to do with it and had a terrible aim.

"Do we need to call in anyone else?" Sam asked.

"We've got this," Steve replied, adjusting his cowl. Thank god for Thor and his magical flying abilities so they could go home and get their gear.

"He does not look like a formidable foe," Thor said cheerily.

"Let's do it," Bucky said and cocked his gun. Steve tried not to blush at the action, his mind going right back to the moment on the dance floor.

Thankfully, the fight was over fast – the villain (who'd seemed to have called himself Doctor Destruction) turned out to be incredibly incompetent, and it didn't take long before Bucky landed a shot that put the guy on his knees.

After that, a whole lot of S.H.I.E.L.D agents swarmed in and picked the guy up. One of them, a blonde, walked up to them.

"Avengers," she said. There was something familiar about her, and it took a moment to place her face. He'd talked to her at the Gala – Sharon, her name was. "I'm Agent Carter."

 _That can't be a coincidence,_ Steve thought, and realised that Sharon actually looked a lot like Peggy did in her old SSR photos. It made him wonder if Sharon had known whom he was when they'd talked.

"You're here to pick up this guy?" he asked.

"As is procedure," she said. "You'll need to come in too, just so we can get a full report. We'll interrogate this guy first, and if you want to watch, then you're welcome to."

"Sure thing," Steve said, and then an hour and several car transfers later, they were standing behind the one-way mirror watching Doctor Destruction sit there, looking a little desperate.

"Man, the one night I think everything is going to be fine, this happens," Sam said.

"It is most unfortunate," Thor said. "I enjoyed the dancing."

Steve just nodded in agreement. He didn't want to actually admit how disappointed he'd been. In the moments before the night had come to an abrupt end, Steve had been sure Bucky was going to kiss him. He'd been nervous as hell, but before he could really process whatever was going on the DJ had shut off the music and his heart had sunk.

He kind of wanted to talk about it with Bucky, but they hadn't had a moment alone, and there was no way he was talking about this in front of anyone else. Besides, he was Captain America now – his personal life didn't matter in the moment. There were far more important things to think about. Besides, Steve wasn't sure what to make of it. Maybe that near-kiss was a heat-of-the-moment thing – just the two of them too caught up in the moment to even really think about what they were doing. Except. Steve knew exactly what he was doing when he'd moved in closer. Had Bucky?

"We're just about to go in, you want to ask anything?" Sharon asked.

"I don't think so," Steve said, and looked to his teammates to see of they had anything to add. They all shook their heads.

"Alright then," she said. "Just wait here. Maybe there's something you can tell us about his reactions."

"Sure," Steve replied.

Inside the interrogation room, Doctor Destruction paled when he saw Sharon enter.

"I'll be a minute," Bucky said, and got up.

"Oh," he said weakly, sounding a lot less confident than he had when he'd been firing his death ray. "You're S.H.I.E.L.D."

"Agent Carter," Sharon said.

"They're going to kill me," Doctor Destruction continued, as if he hadn't heard Sharon speak. "I'm dead."

"Who's going to kill you?"

"I want protection," Doctor Destruction said in response. "Before I say anything. Lock me up, whatever, but just don't let me go back out there."

"I'm sure we can arrange something."

"I want it in writing. Now."

Sharon frowned at him, but then pulled a Starkphone from her pocket and tapped out a message. A moment later, another Agent rushed past Steve and into the room and handed Sharon a piece of paper.

"This is it. You'll get protection – all of it. So, talk," she said. Doctor Destruction took a moment to read over the entire contract. He relaxed a little when he got to the end.

"Alright," he said. "I'll talk."

"Then talk. Who's going to kill you?"

"Hydra, of course."

"Why would they want to kill you?"

"Because I failed the mission," Doctor Destruction said sadly.

"Did I miss much?" Bucky asked suddenly, walking into the room. He wasn't looking at Steve.

"Sh. And no," Sam said. "This guy is talking."

"Good," Bucky said, and turned his attention to the interrogation.

"Do you work for Hydra?" Sharon asked.

Doctor Destruction's eyes widened at the mention of the name. "How do you know Hydra?"

"Answer the damn question," Sharon said.

"No. I mean, I was, um, hired to do a particular job, but I failed that one."

"What job?"

"Kill the Avengers. Hydra has a price on them. I was supposed to do it," Doctor Destruction said.

"Hydra's involved?" Bucky whispered angrily. "Fucking figures."

"Why does Hydra want them dead so badly?"

Doctor Destruction shrugged. "I didn't question it. The deal was there, and it'd, well, because nobody else had managed to do it so far, the price had been going up and up. I'd been planning for a week for this."

"How much were they offering?"

"Millions," Doctor Destruction replied. "And oh, fuck, I _failed_. I had my shot and I didn't do it."

"Duly noted," Sharon responded. "Now, how exactly did you find out about this bounty?"

"Oh, um, word gets around. There's these, uh, forums on the dark web. It was a legit site."

"What's the URL?"

"It changes. I'm not sure what it is now," Doctor Destruction said, eyes darting around the room. "Can I go now? If I stay here too long they'll find me."

"You're safe here," Sharon said.

Doctor Destruction shook his head. "I'm really not," he said, perhaps a little sadly. "Nowhere is safe now. So, I need to go. Now."

"I'm not done yet," Sharon said.

"I've told you everything!" Doctor Destruction yelled. He looked incredibly worried. "There's nothing else!"

Sharon sighed, and then typed another message out on her phone. Several more S.H.I.E.L.D agents came into the room.

Steve turned to Sam. "This isn't looking good."

"No shit," Sam replied. Thor looked worried himself.

"It's all Hydra," Bucky said, sounding a little shaken. "It's all fucking Hydra."

"We're going to need to tell everyone else."

"Emergency meeting?" Sam asked.

"Looks like it," Steve said. "We can't just sit on this info."

Bucky suddenly jumped up and slammed his metallic fist against the nearest wall. "Fuck," he said. "Fucking Fuck."

Steve moved over and placed a hand on Bucky's shoulder. "We'll work it out."

Bucky laughed dryly. "I wish I had your optimism."

* * *

A/N: this chapter bough to you by the song revelator eyes by the paper kites which probably doesn't have much to do with this fic's story, but it's a quality song and I've been listening to it non-stop since yesterday

Anyway, yes, we're so close to done. The Kiss is definitely going to be in the next chapter (which may end up being split into two because I may have underestimated how much I need to get through. Though I won't post any of it until it's all done). Get Excited.

PS. Find me on tumblr agentalien (changed urls bc guess who loves the x files)


	16. Chapter 16

To: director

From: nromanov

Subject: Hydra

Date: August 23 2015

Attachment:

They're involved in everything. Here's the proof.

N. Romanov

Special Agent

/

To: nromanov

From: director

Subject: RE: Hydra

Date: August 23 2015

Get the Avengers here now.

N. Fury

Director of S.H.I.E.L.D

/

"This is a disaster," Stark said. "I hope you all know that."

"I'm well aware of the goddamn situation," Fury replied curtly. "Now we need to sort this mess out."

"We fight them first," Wanda said, speaking up for the first time in the meeting. All eyes went on her. Bucky was a little surprised himself she'd spoken. "We've been running for too long now."

"You know where Hydra lives," Pietro said to Fury. "Tell us, and we'll go. Destroy them forever."

"We should set the terms," Stark argued. "Hydra has been coming at us for too long whenever the hell they want. We get them out here, find somewhere with minimal civilians, and fight."

"Hydra won't take the bait," Pietro argued. "We cannot wait for them to come to us."

"They would need a reason," Wanda said. "Hydra won't do anything without a reason."

"Then we'll challenge them outright – get Pepper and JARVIS to set something up, and boom. They'll come."

"They won't take the bait," Bucky cut in. "Like Wanda said, they're not just going to come out here to fight us. It'll look too much like a trap – and a terrible one at that."

"That could put people at risk," Steve added. "I don't want anyone else getting hurt because of us."

"Then we need to go to them," Wanda argued.

"We don't even know where they are," Clint said, and then looked at Fury. "Do we?"

"We do," Fury said. "But there's not enough intel on the bases to make it worthwhile."

"We could change that," Natasha said.

"Too risky," Fury said shortly. "I'm not compromising any more agents for this."

"Then we think of something else," Steve said. Bucky could see the wheels turning in his mind. "There's got to be some way he can do this that will get Hydra to a safe place and

Fury looked at him curiously for a moment. "Then we'll need to use the sceptre."

"No," Thor said, loudly enough to startle everyone in the room. Bruce was suddenly gripping the side of his chair incredibly tightly. From where he was sitting, Bucky could see the indents in the metal.

"Are you sure?" Natasha asked, but Clint looked a little wary.

Fury looked at him coolly. "It's ours," he said flatly, and Bucky wondered what the hell was going on here.

"It's too dangerous," Thor replied.

"What Sceptre?" Steve asked, voicing the confusion most of the people in the room felt.

"The one S.H.I.E.L.D recovered in the wake of the New York battle," Fury replied.

"Loki's sceptre?"

"You know of any other?" Fury replied.

"Is that a good idea? That thing managed to help rip a hole in time and space."

"The sceptre isn't exactly responsible for that," Thor replied. "It's power lies heavily in control of the mind."

"Mind control?" Bucky asked, an unpleasant feeling pooling in his gut as memories flashed through his mind.

Thor nodded. "It is not a weapon to be treated lightly. I caution you not to use it as bait."

"There's little less Hydra would appear for," Fury replied. "We need to catch them out, and this is the way to do it."

"What if it fails?" Bucky asked.

"Then that's a risk we need to be willing to take. But I doubt it will," Fury said.

"I don't know if I like it," Steve said. "But this is an opportunity we might need to take if there's no other option."

"This is not what I promised when I let you take it," Thor said, still angry.

"The deal is done," Fury replied.

"Hold up a second, what deal?" Stark asked.

"For my brother," Thor said.

 _What the fuck_ , Bucky thought.

"Thor took away a prisoner – the balance for that was the sceptre."

"He's not a threat anymore," Thor said seriously.

"So long as he's alive he will be," Fury said. "He's a risk."

"So the sceptre is your insurance on that," Stark said. "Not bad."

"And how do we know you're not going to use it?" Steve cut in.

Fury dismissed the question. "S.H.I.E.L.D is invested in making sure such power doesn't fall into the wrong hands. And as much as I dislike the idea of letting it move, we need Hydra out of the game."

Steve looked like he was considering it. Bucky still didn't like the idea, but it was better than anything else they had.

"Then we'll do it," Steve said. Everyone else nodded in agreement.

"I do not like it, but I will stand beside you," Thor said.

"Thank you," Steve said seriously, flashing the God of Thunder a smile.

/

Steve adjusted the collar of his shirt, and did his best to look casual.

"Relax," Natasha whispered in his ear, leaning in as if she was kissing his cheek.

"Easy for you to say," Steve grumbled under his breath. He'd never been a huge fan of undercover work, even if he had done it before.

"You'll be fine," Natasha replied. "Just follow my lead."

Steve watched her carefully as she adjusted her pose and led him through the gallery, pretending to gesture at the various paintings while keeping an eye on the crowd for Hydra. He didn't like the idea of an exchange going down here, but according to S.H.I.E.L.D, this was the safest place to do it. The sceptre had been kept here for months now, in an apparent underground safe, which only a select group of S.H.I.E.L.D agents knew about, let alone had access to.

The plan had been set in motion already: a S.H.I.E.L.D agent, posing as an anonymous source, would 'leak' the information about the transfer of the sceptre. Now all that was left to do was for the Avengers to lie in wait for Hydra to show up.

From there, they'd let whoever showed up get in close, before bringing whoever showed up in. Optimistically, they'd hoped for Strucker himself, but Steve knew it might not happen.

"I don't see him yet," Steve reported into the comms, hoping someone else had better luck, but nobody else had seen a thing.

"He'll definitely come," Natasha said.

"I wish I had your confidence," Steve replied.

"Well, no need to fret anymore," she said and gave a subtle nod to the left, and sure enough, there was Strucker himself. "You ready?"

"As much as I'll ever be," Steve replied.

/

Bucky couldn't help the way his hands curled into fists once he caught sight of Strucker. Though he didn't ever remember seeing the man during his time with Hydra, the night of the Gala was still fresh in his memory. This was the man who was responsible for all of this shit, and Bucky wanted to fucking kill him right then and there. But he had to hold back, even if the idea of killing the man was entirely too tempting. There was a plan to follow.

"I've got a visual," he reported into the comms.

"Same here," Steve replied. "Stark, you ready?"

"JARVIS is on it," Stark said. "The alert is set – people will be going in – oh, now, apparently."

And sure enough, the civilians began to filter out of the gallery. Stark had somehow hacked a bunch of different superhero update apps, creating a false battle in progress in the area, so people within a mile radius were cleared out. It was a smart idea, and Bucky had to give it to him for that. But then again, you didn't become the CEO of a megacorporation just by being okay at something.

Bucky used the opportunity to slip into a bathroom and change into his gear, making sure very knife and gun was accounted for. Once he was all ready, he slipped back out, scanning the now-empty rooms for Strucker.

"I haven't got a visual," Bucky whispered into the comms.

"He's still here," Wanda said. "I can feel him."

"It must a disguise," Steve added. "Can you find him?"

There was a moment of quiet on the comms.

"He's in the vault already," Wanda said, an edge of worry in her voice. This wasn't part of the plan.

 _Fuck_ , Bucky thought.

"Then we're going to have to change strategies," Steve said, ever calm. "Thor? Is there anything we can do with this?"

"We need to make sure he doesn't get it," Thor said.

"Then we're going in. Avengers, assemble," Steve said.

"That's catchy, use it again," Stark commented.

Bucky rolled his eyes. He spotted Steve and Natasha by the entrance to the underground levels (a nondescript door marked 'staff only' with a keypad). It was still sealed shut, but Bucky wondered if Strucker had somehow used some kind of tech to bypass that. He wouldn't have been surprised.

He gave the two a quick nod, and the rest of the Avengers moved in. Bucky suddenly felt a strange calm wash over him as they moved in. This was it – the moment they'd finally confront this asshole once and for all.

The room behind the door was small, and there was another door built into the floor that led to the floors below. Bucky wondered what kind of things were kept down here – what else was considered so terrible that S.H.I.E.L.D had to lock it away like this?

Once Stark opened the door, Pietro darted ahead of them, racing down the stairs inside in a silvery blur, and then suddenly appeared where he'd first stood again.

"He's opening the chamber," Pietro reported back.

"Then we need to move now," Steve said. There was a bit of an awkward struggle as they worked out who could move down first. It wasn't a large tunnel down, and there was only one ladder. Naturally, the faster members of the team went first, with the less-enhanced going last. Bucky was about the middle – he might not have been totally normal, but he wasn't exactly like Steve either. He moved as fast as he could as he went down, mindful of every step.

Once he was down there, the first thing he noticed was that everything was awash in a bright blue light. He hadn't seen this particular shade since the alien invasion, and was immediately set on edge.

"So you have come," Strucker said from somewhere in the room. "I was wondering when you'd arrive."

"We didn't want to disappoint," Steve replied, moving forward. Bucky got a knife ready, and noticed the rest of the team draw their weapons.

"I would have hoped you wouldn't have made this so easy for me," Strucker continued. Bucky scanned the room, trying to work out where the man was standing.

"Who says we're making it easy?" Stark cut in. "Maybe this is all a ruse."

"Oh," Strucker said sadly. "I know it's not."

Suddenly, Bucky noticed the light intensify out of the corner of his eye, but before he could do anything about it, his body stiffened. Bucky tried to move, but he was frozen in place. He couldn't even twitch a finger.

He felt his heart rate pick up. _Shit, shit, shit._

"Come on, Solider," Strucker whispered in his ear. "Finish them."

Bucky moved into action.

/

Steve had seen Bucky fight before, but never like this. He moved deadly fast, almost with no regard for his own safety, ramming himself into Steve, metal arm first. Winded, Steve dropped to his knees, shield falling from his grasp, and felt a sharp hit on his back.

"Steve!" Sam called out.

"Keep Strucker down here," Steve ordered him. "Let me deal with Bucky."

Bucky didn't stop fighting, and Steve did his best to keep up, trying to get Bucky off him for long enough so he could grab his shield. For a moment, it was in his reach, but then Bucky moved just in time to push it further out of his grasp. Steve swore and was just about to go for it again, but then Bucky slammed his fist into Steve's cheek, breaking the bone on impact.

Steve cried out in pain, but pushed forward. This fight was different to any he'd had with Bucky before – this was no holds bared, no restraint to stop him from going in for the kill. He was brutally efficient, going for the most aggressive shots every time. Steve managed to avoid some of the worst, but Bucky still got a few hits in. Steve felt a couple of ribs crack under the force of Bucky's latest hit.

During the fight, Steve noticed Bucky's eyes were glowing brightly, the blue more intense than it normally was.

 _Strucker's got the staff,_ Steve thought desperately, realising what the colour of Bucky's eyes meant.

"Stop fighting," Bucky said in an eerily toneless voice. Steve wondered if this was the Winter Solider, the perfect weapon fashioned from a man.

"I'm not going to let you do that, Bucky," Steve replied.

"Who the hell is Bucky?" the Winter Soldier asked, and aimed for another punch.

Out of the corner of his eye, Steve saw Clint move to attack Natasha, his eyes glowing the same blue as the Soldier's.

"Find Strucker!" Steve yelled.

"A little preoccupied here," Stark said, just as the Hulk started roaring. "Hey, Thor! A little help?"

 _Shit_ , Steve thought. Where the hell was this guy? He wanted to look, but the Winter Soldier was on him full-force and Steve had to keep fighting, otherwise the Soldier might go for a less-robust Avenger. Steve was perhaps one of the only people who could keep up with the Soldier's brutal attacks.

"Pietro!" Wanda called out desperately, voice cracking. "Stop!"

Steve felt a knife in his gut. _That doesn't look good_ , he thought distantly as the blood welled up, staining his suit. But that wasn't then end of it – another knife swiped through and landed in Steve's side. Clearly, Bucky had armed himself a lot better than Steve had first thought.

"They have turned against you, Captain," Strucker said, his voice echoing around the room. "I have the power now, and you will follow me."

"Bucky, please," Steve begged.

"Stop saying that," the Soldier replied, voice still toneless. He went in for another stab, but Steve rolled out of the way just in time. The knife clattered against the floor.

"Stop fighting, you know you don't want to do this," Steve said.

"I need to finish my mission," the Soldier replied and knew another knife, this one aimed at Steve's chest. He only managed to just move enough so the knife hit him in the shoulder instead of the heart.

The Soldier growled in response. Then, a horrible yell echoed through the chamber.

 _He's got the Hulk_ , Steve thought, stomach sinking. Steve heard Thor yell right back.

"Fight this, Doctor!" he said. The Hulk continued to yell, and Steve felt the force of the Hulk's fists as they slammed into the floor. But he didn't have much time to recover from that as the Soldier sprang at him again.

"Bucky, please," Steve said. "I know you don't want to do this."

"I need to complete my mission," the Solider replied, but there was an edge to his voice.

"Fight it," Steve pleaded. "I know you're still in there."

The Solider threw another knife.

 _Where the hell does he keep all of these_ , Steve thought as he narrowly missed a knife to the face.

"Steve, seriously," Sam yelled.

"I can handle this," Steve replied, trying to keep his focus on the Soldier. "Keep Strucker down."

"He's sort of bulletproof right now," Sam yelled back.

"Then improvise!" Steve yelled as he made another move towards the Solider. Steve's body ached something fierce, but it was also already healing, pushing the knives out and sealing up the wounds. However, the constant and brutal attack from the Soldier was slowing the healing process.

The Solider started to fire a gun. Steve almost had to do a backflip to avoid some of the shots, but one did catch him in the side right next to an already healing knife wound.

Steve cried out in pain, and fell to his knees. The Solider stalked forward, a swift and efficient movement.

With no other options left, Steve let himself fall to the ground.

"You're my mission," the Solider all but yelled.

"Then finish it," Steve said and moved the Soldier's gun to his chest.

 _Please still be in there,_ Steve thought desperately.

Bucky dropped the gun.

"Steve?" he whispered, voice hoarse.

"Yeah, Buck," Steve said softly. "You good?"

Bucky looked back over to where Sam was keeping Strucker distracted, using his wings to dart out of the way of every shot Strucker tried to take. Strucker seemed more and more angry, but Sam was good at what he was doing and kept himself just out of reach.

Wanda, meanwhile, was sitting beside Pietro, talking to him softly. He looked shaken as hell.

Bruce was in the corner, eyes closed tightly. Stark seemed to have beefed up his suit somehow, and stood watch with Thor.

"Let's end this," Steve said and moved back to Sam to provide backup.

Bucky nodded in agreement, and picked up several knives from the floor. He paled a little when he was looking at the blood, but wiped them off quickly and slipped them back into various holsters.

"This is not the end," Strucker said. The sceptre was still clutched in his hands, and he looked a little desperate.

"You shouldn't have come here alone, if you wanted it to be that way," Steve replied and moved forward.

"I did not need an army – I have the power of a thousand of them here in my hands," Strucker said and threw a blast of energy from the sceptre towards Steve. He barely managed to miss it, still close enough to feel the heat of the blast.

"Such power is not for you," Thor replied.

Suddenly, Wanda was back up and beside Steve. Her hands glowed bright red, and she hit a powerful ball of energy at Strucker, whose protective shield shattered on impact.

"That is for my brother," she said fiercely.

Sam took the opportunity to fire at Strucker's leg, and the man collapsed to the ground, dropping the sceptre. Thor moved forward to pick it up again and held it tightly. Beside him, Stark and Bruce stood – there was a measurable distance between the two, with Bruce looking incredibly shaken but otherwise okay.

"Fucking finally," Sam said, breathing heavily. He looked exhausted. Steve shot him a smile.

Suddenly, a flock of S.H.I.E.L.D agents swarmed in, guns at the ready as they came for Strucker. Fury wandered in afterwards, his single eye surveying the scene.

"You couldn't have come in sooner?" Stark asked.

"We were waiting to see how the situation unfolded first," Fury replied. "And thanks to you, this is a win."

Strucker didn't say anything as he was led away. He looked pissed as hell, but wasn't going on the typical villainous rant Steve had come to expect. It was a little unsettling.

"What now?" Steve asked.

"We're taking him in. S.H.I.E.L.D has enough dirt on this guy to put him away for a long, long time," Fury replied. "There's no chance he's getting out."

"Good," Wanda said.

"He deserves death," Pietro spat. Wanda put a hand on his arm. Steve didn't blame the guy – Hydra had done too much to him personally to ever make it okay.

"It doesn't feel like this is over," Sam commented.

"No, it's not over, but it damn well will be a hell of a lot sooner," Fury replied. "Thanks to you, we're a lot closer to getting Hydra out for good."

"We're with you the whole way," Steve promised.

"You're going to a hospital," Stark cut in. "You do realised you got stabbed like ten times?"

Steve looked down. "Oh yeah, it's fine," he replied.

"Steve," Bucky said seriously.

"It's okay, Buck," Steve replied.

"I hurt you," Bucky said.

"Not your fault," Steve said firmly. He had no idea how Bucky must be feeling now, but Steve was determined to make it clear whom he thought the blame should go to.

Bucky huffed, annoyed. "I know that, but seriously, I stabbed you. How are you even standing upright now?"

"I'll be fine," Steve replied. "Seriously, they're already healing fast."

"Dude, go to a doctor now," Sam said.

Bucky gave Sam a high five.

Steve rolled his eyes. He knew he was going to be _fine_ , even if he was aching a little (okay, maybe a lot, but seriously, he wasn't going to die from his wounds).

"I can take you back to that hospital," Natasha offered, suddenly appearing beside him with Clint slumped against her. She noticed his look. "He's fine – I just knocked him out for a while."

Fury nodded, like this was something that happened every day. "Report back to me later. Make your you all don't die first."

/

Bucky couldn't stop fidgeting – he twitched his fingers, tapped his feet and kept biting his cheek and all just because he could. He knew he probably looked crazy to everyone else, but he couldn't stop moving. He just needed to prove to himself that yes, he was back in control of himself. Strucker's control had been utterly paralysing, trapping him inside his own mind as his body betrayed him.

It was almost as bad as being the Winter Soldier proper – maybe even worse, when he thought about it. Bucky couldn't decide. Either way, he didn't like it and needed every reassurance that it was _over_.

He didn't think he'd ever be able to forget those moments where he'd been attacking Steve full force, his body fuelled by a desire that wasn't his own.

 _Great, more nightmares_ , he though dryly. Most of those had faded over time, only ever cropping up on occasion, but he had a feeling this incident wasn't going to leave him anytime soon. He absently wondered if he could weasel another therapist out of S.H.I.E.L.D again.

"You okay?" Steve asked once the flurry of S.H.I.E.L.D agents had left. The fucker _still_ hadn't gotten his ass off to a hospital.

"I'm –" Bucky began, but realised he couldn't lie his way out of this one. "I've been better."

"It's okay, you know that?" Steve said.

"Yeah," Bucky replied. "I know."

"I just don't want you to beat yourself up over this. I'm honestly okay, and I know it wasn't you."

Bucky shook his head. When would Steve stop being so goddamn nice? Bucky had literally just stabbed the guy, and here he was trying to make _Bucky_ feel better about it. "Go get some medical help," he shot back.

"For the last time I'm –" Steve cut off and looked down at his bloody suit, as if taking it in for the first time. The blood was spreading further. _God,_ how was he even still standing? "Okay yeah, it does look bad, but I'll seriously be okay."

"Just do it, okay?" Bucky said. "Give the rest of us one less thing to worry about."

"Okay, fine," Steve replied. "But only for you."

Bucky resolutely ignored the blush he knew was forming on his cheeks.

/

Once Steve had gotten himself checked out at the hospital (getting a clean bill of health and a stern warning not to attempt anything too strenuous for the next few weeks), he surprised himself by sleeping for twenty-four hours straight. Maybe it was all the adrenaline finally wearing off, or some response to the trauma he'd put his body through, but he sure as hell felt much better one he'd woken up.

Steve found Bucky sitting on the couch once he'd made his way outside his bedroom, reading a book. He looked up at Steve when he saw him there. "Oh good," he said. "How do you feel?"

"Great, actually. What's been happening?" Steve

"Not much around here," Bucky replied. "Strucker's definitely going on trial, but he's managed to bargain - names for a reduced sentence."

"Figures," Steve muttered, feeling a little disappointed at S.H.I.E.L.D for offering him a deal.

"It's not by much – a few years, but honestly considering the time this guy is gonna get, he might die in prison," Bucky replied, strangely positive.

"And what about you? Doing okay?"

"I'm fine," Bucky replied. "Been to therapy and everything. All clear. Not gonna snap and kill you in your sleep."

"I wasn't asking about that, but good to know," Steve said.

"I really am okay," Bucky insisted. "Maybe I won't sleep so good for the next while, but I'll be fine."

"You get nightmares?"

Bucky just shrugged. "Kind of a given, in my case."

Steve blushed. "Oh yeah – sorry, I forgot."

"You're just about the only one who does," Bucky replied.

"I shouldn't be," Steve said without thinking. "You deserve to have more people care about you for more than just your threat-level."

Bucky rolled his eyes, but there was a smile on his face. "You're kind of incredible, you know that?"

Steve blushed even deeper. He was sure it was as plain as day right now. "So are you," Steve said softly.

"Wait, what?" Bucky asked.

"You. You're incredible too – amazing even," Steve replied, looking Bucky in the eye and sounding a hell of a lot more confident than he felt. "I know we haven't had much time to really talk lately and if now is a bad time, then we can just –"

Instead of doing something like tell him to stop, Bucky moved in closer to Steve's space, his flesh hand on the back of Steve's neck. The proximity was amazing, but not quite enough. There was a question in Bucky's eyes, and Steve answered it by moving in further and closing the gap between them.

And then they were kissing. Steve almost wanted to laugh in relief – _finally, finally_ this was happening. He almost couldn't believe it, but them Bucky pressed closer and his hand wound its way into Steve's hair and he kind of stopped thinking. Steve responded in kind by shifting so he could get his hands on Bucky, resting them tenderly on his shoulders before hesitantly cupping the back of his neck.

Steve wasn't sure how long they sat there, just lost in the sensation of touching each other and exploring this new kind of contact between the, but he eventually pulled away, but rested his forehead against Bucky's. They stayed like that for a long moment, just looking at each other and catching their breath.

"Wow," Steve said, unable to stop smiling.

"Yeah, that's right," Bucky said, his smile wide and bright.

"I really like you," Steve blurted out, unable to help himself. "You know that?"

Bucky laughed, a bright and happy sound. "Yeah, I think I do, and me too, just so you know," he said and went in for another kiss.

* * *

A/N: Finally! The Kissing happened! All they really needed was a few good minutes to talk. And it only took me like 58k to get here. Who knew I could even draw this shit out for so long. Though because of that, I did end up promising a friend that I'd write them a PWP (well, it'll be as plotless as I make anything) set in this 'verse to make up for it. It'll be thrown in as its own thing, so it won't be in the collection of extras/outtakes I've got planned. But it'll definitely be written first. So, thank iamnotthewriteryourelookingfor (over on AO3) for that.

Anyway, one more chapter to go! Then we're done, which, holy shit, is going to be done so soon. I can't believe it. Hopefully I'll get that done within the week.

Once again, thanks so much to literally everyone who's faved/followed/reviewed/read this fic. You're all honestly the loveliest and it's this experience that much more enjoyable.


	17. Chapter 17

New York Bulletin

August 25 2015

 **VILLAINS REVEALED: THE MAN BEHIND NEW YORK TERROR ATTACKS ARRESTRED**

 _Avengers save the day in dramatic underground battle_

Full story, pages 2-11

 _Who are the Avengers? The exclusive tell-all interview from Tony Stark_ [p. 12-16]

/

"You know, this whole, thing, maybe we were wrong about them? Now that this Strucker guy's been found, it seems like there's a lot we don't know."

"This could all still be a trap. I mean, wouldn't it be convenient, to blame it all on this guy and this – what, Hydra, they're calling it. If he's the one calling the shots, then there's no blame on them. They still gotta [bleep] answer for this. The city still got destroyed because of them. On multiple occasions, I may add."

"So you're blaming them for being the ones to stand up to Hydra?"

"I'm saying, that if we didn't have the Avengers, then this wouldn't have happened. Hydra might be the enemy, but they only came at us because of the Avengers."

"But they're the only people standing in the way of threats like this. Without them, Baron Von Strucker would still be at large."

"Look, I don't need you to start playing devil's advocate here. This is about what the Avengers have done to this city – and a lot of it isn't good. Too many people have gotten hurt because of their [bleep] antics. This is just another example of that."

/

New York Bulletin

March 3 2016

 **STUCKER SENTENCED: HYDRA IS GONE**

 _Neo-Nazi group finally bought to justice_

Full story, pages 2-14

 _Hydra: Everything you need to know and more_ [p. 14-18]

/

"What do you think about this now? Because when we spoke last, you were pretty anti-Avenger. You wanted them to disband."

"Well, I guess I was wrong. The stuff that's come out, [bleep], like, I've been following the trials, read all the public info. And I don't even think that's the worst of it. I guess I'm just glad we know who's the real enemy here. If Hydra's behind all this, then maybe I was wrong."

"A whole lot of people have been charged in relation to the Hydra terrorism."

"And thank [bleep] they have. They shouldn't have been out there for so long."

"So you're happy the Avengers were responsible for this exposure."

"I guess I am. I don't know where we'd be without them. They've saved us all."

/

"Are you sure that's everything?"

"Yes. Now quit your worrying," Bucky replied, trying not to roll his eyes at Steve's concern. He'd already checked every box five times, and scanned the empty apartment an additional three times.

"I know, I know," Steve sighed. Bucky pulled his boyfriend in for a hug and kissed his forehead, rubbing soft circles into Steve's back.

"It's going to be fine. Besides, Tony's got his fancy movers that'll take everything up there."

Steve relaxed against him and Bucky shifted his posture so he could more easily hold Steve's weight. "I can't believe we're moving," Steve mumbled into Bucky's shoulder.

"Well, it was bound to happen eventually. Couldn't keep that place gathering dust," Bucky replied. The decision to move into the tower had been an unexpectedly easy one. After an attack that hit way too close to their complex, Steve and Bucky made the decision to get the hell out of there and into Stark Tower.

Besides, almost all their other teammates had been offered floor at Christmas (each was apparently specially designed for the corresponding Avenger, which said a lot about Tony's free time and general loneliness). Steve and Bucky were the last ones to concede, though Natasha rarely used her floor, but could be often found around the tower.

Tony had been incredibly smug about the entire thing, talking it up like he'd managed to do all the convincing. Bucky didn't bother to correct the man - after all, he was giving them an entire floor of his tower. The place had already been decorated in Tony's typically extravagant fashion, but Steve had insisted on bringing everything from the apartment anyway.

"Okay, let's go," Steve said and pulled away from Bucky's embrace to check over the boxes one last time.

"Steve, come _on_ ," Bucky whined, tugging at his boyfriend's hand.

"Alright, alright," Steve said, and followed him out the door.

The journey to Stark Tower took forever in the traffic, but once they got there, it was well worth the wait. The movers had somehow already arrived and the last of their things were being sent up to their floor.

 _Money_ , Bucky said, shaking his head. He didn't understand rich people at all, especially those like Tony. There was just no end to the kind of ridiculous things they'd do for the sake of convenience.

"Ah, you're here!" Tony said excitedly when they arrived. He was practically vibrating with excitement. "The full set!"

Bucky rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, we're here now," Steve said, fiddling with the key card. "It's floor 58, right?"

"That's the one! JARVIS, take us up!" Tony said, ushering them towards the elevator.

Once they were on the right floor, Tony rushed around and excited explained all the countless features of the apartment as Steve looked on, amused. Bucky meanwhile went to work mapping out the floor, scanning the best vantage points and corners. It was surprisingly well constructed and Bucky had to wonder if Tony had designed it that way deliberately. He decided that it passed.

"You done, Buck?" Steve asked once Bucky had finished checking out the bathroom (which was almost the same size as his old bedroom).

"Yeah, all good," he said. "God, this is our new _home_."

Steve laughed and out his arm around Bucky's shoulders. "Yeah, it is."

/

Unpacking was its own kind of hell, because, as it turned out, Bucky was an incredibly messy packer. He didn't seem to understand the concept of actually sorting things.

"How do you call this sorted?" Steve asked, picking out a set of forks from the box marked 'Stuff 2.0'.

"They're in the box?" Bucky replied. "Besides, I figured we could deal with it later. And you were stressing, so the faster the better."

"But still, Buck, forks with the bed sheets?"

"Oh, did I?" Bucky said and peered into the box. "Guess I did."

"I thought you were in the army. Weren't you all about neat?"

Bucky just shrugged. "Guess I forgot about that."

"Figures you'd forget that of all things," Steve replied with a roll of his eyes. They were at the point where they were both comfortable enough to joke about Bucky's fucked up past. Steve had been hesitant at first, especially after hearing every detail of Bucky's trauma, but Bucky had flat-out told him he didn't care about it ("If I can't joke about then, then what the fuck am I supposed to do?" he'd told Steve after he'd first tried to make a joke about his memory).

"Hey, I still managed to keep the place clean," Bucky argued.

"Yeah, but your room was another story."

"It wasn't that bad!"

"You didn't even sort your shirts from your pants," Steve replied. He remembered the first time he'd opened that draw to grab a pair of sweats because he couldn't be bothered moving too far from the bed after sex. Instead of being able to just grab a pair, he'd spent a good ten minutes trying to sort through the mess in the draws before he found something.

"You're never going to let that go," Bucky said dramatically.

"You're just lucky you're good looking," Steve said. Bucky blew him a kiss.

"You know you love me."

Steve sighed, but he was smiling. "That I do," he replied, feeling incredibly warm and happy at the thought. It was almost strange to think after all that missed time that they finally got to have this. But he'd be damned if he let anything get in the way of it. Bucky was one of the best things that had happened to him in a long time.

He didn't think he'd ever get tired of kissing him, and that was exactly what he did, unpacking be damned.

/

Dinner that night saw them on the "Common Floor" of Stark Tower, with the whole team with them. Bucky didn't quite get the need for a whole floor for "dinner parties" and "social shit" (as Tony said), but he appreciated the sentiment none the less. It was probably better that they had it up here, where everything was neat and orderly rather than the mess that was his own floor (they'd gotten _very_ distracted before they'd managed to finish unpacking).

"A toast," Tony said the moment Steve and Bucky walked in, handing them both a glass of super solider-strength alcohol. "Strucker's gone."

"I saw it on the news," Steve said with a smile, raising his glass.

"Thank god that fucker's out," Bucky added. None of the Avengers had actually been at the trial, bar Tony (who'd spoken on behalf of the Avengers) and Bucky had made a point not to pay attention to the news. Thinking about Strucker too much made him think about his own shit, and that was definitely not something he wanted to dwell on.

But despite their lack of involvement in the legal side, the media had been absolutely desperate to get a full commentary from all of them. This had eventually culminated in a press conference organised by Pepper Potts herself. The Avengers had all been in full-costume, but Bucky had still felt frighteningly exposed in the face of all those reporters. It was really only thanks to the careful media coaching did Bucky manage to get out of there without a) breaking someone's neck, or b) saying something incredibly stupid.

"Aren't we all?" Tony said. "To putting villains away for good."

The rest of the team echoed the sentiment and took a sip of their drinks. Bucky couldn't help smiling and pulled Steve in for a quick kiss, ignoring his teammates jeers. When he pulled away, Bucky felt incredibly light and happy. _Finally_ , this was over.

After years of hell, Hydra was gone from his life entirely. It felt surreal to acknowledge it, but it was true. Members of Hydra had been dragged into the spotlight and arrested over the past seven months, each head falling one by one.

Natasha and Clint, along with assistance from Pietro and Wanda (and once or twice, Bucky, when he could manage it), had been responsible for that. They'd gone on an incredible amount of missions with S.H.I.E.L.D to find whatever dirt on Hydra they could. It had been an incredibly intense process, and the few times Bucky had joined in he'd had to sleep for a full twenty-four hours after he got back.

Of course, all of this didn't mean the villains were gone – there was always the next threat, some asshole out there that was inspired by what Hydra had started. But even so, it was definitely a lot less stressful since they'd taken down Strucker. Now, the city was a hell of a lot safer, and finally starting to rebuild properly. New York was finally coming back to life after so much terror.

Bucky didn't think he'd ever get tired of thus Hydra-less world (even if he did often worry that one day the might come back). But that wasn't the only reason he was so happy. There was Steve to think about too – Steve, who was the best boyfriend Bucky had ever had.

"You know, I'm glad you two sorted your shit out," Tony said over dessert, using his spoon to gesture between Steve and Bucky.

"Huh?" Steve asked.

"You two. Together," Tony explained. "Didn't think you two would sort your shit out."

"It didn't take us _that_ long," Bucky argued, feeling a little offended. "Besides, we've been together for months now."

"It was almost as bad as watching Thor and Jane," Natasha added. Thor brightened at the mention of his new girlfriend. "Actually, it was worse."

Jane Foster was a new friend to Bucky, but Thor had apparently met her when he'd first ended up on Earth. The way he told it, Jane was the one to find him and give him a hand when he'd been nothing but lost. She was an incredibly smart scientist (and one of the few geniuses in the world that could keep up with Tony) who'd been with S.H.I.E.L.D studying wormholes in New Mexico when Thor had fallen out of the sky. Thor had been pretty taken with her, but he hadn't been able to spend much time with her after that. He'd been sent off to New York soon after, but she'd called him recently and they'd gotten talking. From there, the rest had been easy.

Now, she was off in London doing a whole lot more smart people research that only the likes of Tony and Bruce could possibly comprehend.

"So, how is Jane?" Steve asked.

"She's doing well," Thor replied. "I'm taking her to Asgard soon. Once she finishes her research, of course."

"And you won't take _me_?" Tony asked, faux-annoyed.

Thor just smiled. "One days soon, my friend. You'll all come with me. I've seen so much of your home, but you need to see mine."

"You better," Tony replied.

"It would be fascinating," Bruce added. "I'd love to see the differences in technology."

"It might be an interesting experience," Natasha added.

"Of course," Thor said. "You are all welcome."

"I used to want to be an astronaut," Sam added. "Count me in to all future space-adventures."

Thor laughed at that.

Bucky wasn't sure how he felt about the idea of going to space, but Thor had talked so much of Asgard Bucky would feel pretty awful if he missed out. Besides, it would be an adventure, and it'd be nice to go somewhere for once that wasn't for some sort of mission or heroic rescue (he'd never quite get over the fact the one and only time he'd been to Fiji was to stop a dude trying to blow up a volcano).

"We should totally all take a vacation sometime," Tony said, voicing Bucky's thoughts. "I haven't had a day off in _forever_."

"A superhero never sleeps," Steve joked.

"Well, we should."

"Sleep?"

"No, go on vacation. I have a private jet after all."

"I'm not gonna argue with that," Sam replied. "Tell me when and I'm so there."

"I could do with a break," Natasha added. "But nowhere near the snow. I want _sun_."

"I can't argue with that," Clint replied. "The further we stay away from snow, the better. I've had enough hypothermia." He shot a look at Wanda and Pietro.

Wanda laughed. "Not our fault you cannot keep warm."

"You didn't tell me it was going to be _that_ cold."

Pietro just rolled his eyes. "You're just week."

Clint spluttered a protest, but didn't bother to continue the argument. The rest of the team laughed.

Not for the first time, Bucky wondered how life had ended up being so good. He'd never expected it to get to this point before – all he'd really been focusing on was doing his part and keeping his head down. Friends weren't a priority, but somehow he'd ended up with a whole lot of them.

/

Steve felt like his heart was going to burst during the dinner. It was a wonder he didn't start crying right then and there. Just the year before, he'd been struggling to even pay rent, let alone sort out anything else about his life beyond the superhero work.

Now, he had all of that and more. There were so many good people here people he'd fought beside, and trusted like no other.

"This is the best," Steve declared late into the night after Tony had bought out the after-dinner drinks. Thor had also supplied some kind of Asgardian liquor he'd promised would get Steve and Bucky drunk. And it was definitely doing its promised job. Better even than whatever Tony had made.

"Is Captain America going to make a speech?" Sam teased.

"No, I mean, I'm just happy," Steve said. He suddenly felt like it was absolutely important that everyone knew. "This whole year. The best."

"Aw, you're a sweet drunk," Bucky said from beside him. "I knew it."

"JARVIS, please tell me you're recording this," Tony called out. "The world has to know."

"No, this isn't drunk," Steve insisted, shaking his head. "This is definitely the best. Because of you, all of you even."

"You're drunk, Stevie," Bucky replied. "Embrace it."

"Fine. I'm drunk. But you're all the best."

Bucky gave him a kiss on the cheek. "We know that."

/

When the night was over, Steve and Bucky retired to their floor (a _whole_ floor. Sometimes Bucky couldn't believe it), drunk and stumbling into their room. He really hadn't felt like this since he was back in high school, getting inappropriately drunk off whatever alcohol his friends could sneak from their parents or charitable older sibling. He'd kind of forgotten how floaty it made him feel.

"Oh my god," Bucky slurred. "That was the _best_."

"You're the best," Steve replied, ever the sap. Bucky had to roll his eyes. If he didn't hear this all the time, he'd chalk it up to something drunk Steve did. But no, Bucky heard this _all the time_. And he loved it. _Loved Steve_.

"Sh," Bucky said and buried his face in Steve's shoulder, pressing a soft kiss to the skin there.

"Love you so much," Steve said and responded by pressing face into Bucky's hair. "So, so much."

"I know," Bucky replied, face still on Steve's shoulder. "Love you too."

Steve giggled. "We should probably go to bed. Like, really."

"Yeah, I know," Bucky said and made a move towards the bedroom, pulling Steve along with him. It was an easy walk to the bedroom – thankfully, Stark hadn't hidden it around _too_ many corridors.

They crashed into bed together, still floating on the feeling of Thor's mead. Whatever it was had to have been incredibly strong (Bucky made a mental note to ask Thor about it sometime).

"Come closer," Steve said, pulling at Bucky. "It's cold."

"You're never cold."

"Fine. Maybe I just want you close."

"Aw," Bucky said, but moved closer and let himself be swallowed by Steve's embrace. He used to be pretty shit at this sort of thing, but since he'd started dating Steve, cuddling had become one of his new favourite things. There was nothing better.

"You know," Steve mumbled, "This whole roommate thing was the best idea."

Bucky kind of had to agree.

* * *

A/N: and it's done! I can't quite believe it. 60k+ later, and this is literally the longest thing I've ever written in my life. It's a lot surreal.

But this universe isn't over just yet. Though the bulk of this is over, I've got a little bonus PWP thing happening, and a collection of outtakes/extras set in this universe because there's a lot that's been going on behind the scenes (especially with Natasha. Spies are bust people). So, they'll definitely be out soon.

There's also a bunch more Stucky AU's I've got planned so expect to see those around sometime too.

And once again, thank you all so much for reading/reviewing/favouriting/following/etc. It's the loveliest thing and you're all literally the best.

in the mean time, find me on tumblr agentalien where I yell a lot about Steve/Bucky and life in general.


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